Pensioners to get paid for losses from 2007–2009
Pensioners to get paid for losses from 2007–2009
PENSIONERS who lost their life savings during the hyperinflation of 2007 to 2009 will begin receiving payments in February 2024, according to a senior official with the Insurance and Pensions Commission (Ipec).
Speaking during a talk show on a commercial radio on Wednesday, Ipec director (pension and life assurance) Cuthbert Mujoma said modalities had been put in place for insurance companies to compensate beneficiaries.
“The insurance companies have submitted their pension payment plans. We urge policyholders to go and check their names so that they know how much they are supposed to get.
“Some pension funds have now changed names and we urge the pensioners to check with us so that we help them,” he said.
“According to our timelines, the pensioners should start receiving what they are owed in February next year. The process has taken a long time because of the legal procedures the government embarked on.”
Mujoma urged relatives of deceased life assurance policyholders to come forward so that designated beneficiaries receive their dues.
Pensioners lost their savings 14 years ago following a bout of hyperinflation which led to the collapse of the local currency and adoption of the United States dollar as the base currency.
The switch to the greenback immediately wiped out the value of Zimbabwe dollar-denominated investments, leaving thousands of pensioners destitute.
Government set up the Justice Smith Commission of Inquiry in 2015, whose report was adopted by Cabinet in 2018, in response to a public outcry.
The government ordered Ipec to put the Justice Smith inquiry’s recommendations into practice in September 2018. Since then, Ipec has created procedures to make the compensation process easier. The degree of prejudice will vary depending on the insurance firm or pension fund and will be ascertained following the adoption of the compensation regulation.
It was required of insurance firms and pension funds to submit compensation plans that included the qualified policyholders and pension fund members, along with the compensation amounts.
