“The council is not prioritising the remittance of pension contributions to LAPF, while the management is getting posh cars,” said Zimbabwe Progressive Pensioners Trust Chief Executive Officer, Wellington Zunde.
According to official statistics, LAPF has at least 160,000 urban council pensioners countrywide.
“Invalids (pensioners who leave work due to ill health or injury) get $160 per month, plus $20 that is remitted by National Social Security Authority to make a total of $180. These families have been surviving on a $20 budget for the past seven months,” added Zunde.
To add salt to the wound, Zunde said a recent human resource audit revealed that the council was paying millions of dollars to ghost workers.
“A recent audit on the HCC establishment revealed that there are only 5,000 workers with the local authority while double that are being paid every month,” he said.
When contacted for comment, HCC spokesperson, Leslie Gwindi could neither deny nor confirm the development.
Zunde added that the central government was failing to pay lump sum pensions to civil servants who left work during the economic meltdown.
“The pensioners have not got their money since 2009,” claimed Zunde.
Post published in: News