HARARE mayor Jacob Mafume has bemoaned the diversion of council pension funds, saying they are not being used effectively to support local business communities or infrastructural development.
He said the funds were being diverted, raising questions about the transparency and strategic vision of pension fund management in council.
Mafume was speaking at a full council meeting held at Town House yesterday, where he said the pension fund must serve the interests of workers, stimulate local development and foster economic resilience.
“I think that there is no relationship and our pensioners are suffering. The place to invest in Zimbabwe is Harare. So, how do we help the struggling business communities to get investors yet we have a pension fund?” he said.
“We have the land. They go and buy land elsewhere, US$2 million, when they could get land here in Harare and for people like me, they go to the pension fund.
“Sometimes, I wonder what happens with our processes and the people who represent us there, I don’t even understand. We don’t get regular reports. We are not being fully represented.”
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Mafume said investment should be seen in the capital, adding that pensioners cannot continue to suffer as the current system enforced a tight framework, with gratuities paid on retirement.
“Now, we have got a too tight pension system. We now give people gratuities when they retire. But at the same time, we are paying amounts to the pension fund.
“So, why are we [contributing] to a pension fund when in our collective bargaining agreement, we are now saying everyone who retires, we are giving them gratuities? It’s an oxymoron, a serious contradiction of effort.
“And this is one organisation. So, what do we do? The pension fund, our negotiations and the collective bargaining, because the employer is paying out twice? You pay a gratuity here when a person retires, but all the time, we are contributing to these kind of pension funds”
Mafume said substantial land, assets and investment opportunities were available in places like Harare.
“Why is (the pension fund) not building schools yet? Why is it not building for people to get money?
“Why is it not developing stands for them to sell? Or developing stands for some of the workers to buy while they are still unretired, at the same time, contributing to their pension fund?” he asked.
Mafume called for an urgent review of the council policy framework which oversees the pension fund.
“There is something wrong with our pension strategy. And I made myself clear to the board members that visited,” he said.
“And I don’t know who was appointed to represent us here from the council to get the pension fund (sic). I don’t know who that person is. Who is representing us?”