ZambiansWorking for No Pension?
Teaser
Every single month, Zambian workers contribute five percent of their salary to NAPSA towards their Pension Scheme, but are employers actually remitting that money?
Zambians Working for No Pension?
By Meluse Kapatamoyo
Although the pay slip of every formal Zambian worker reflects a five percent monthly pension contribution, only a few institutions are remitting the funds for their employees.
According to the National Pensions Scheme Authority (NAPSA), the country’s compulsory pension fund covering all the 73 districts, many companies are not paying retirement contributions despite deductingcontributions from their workers.
Judith Dasilva, public affairs manager for the Authority, which has more than three million cumulative members from over 17,000 employer companies from both the private and public sectors,told Mywage Zambia:
“We are owed well over 900 billion Kwacha (about US$1.7 million) by many companies who have not been remitting funds deducted from their employees’ salaries.
“The trend is most prevalent in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because most of them change names and addresses every so often, making it difficult to pursue them.
“The global economic meltdown has, however, hit the private sector quite hard which has resulted in many closures and scaling down of the workforce especially in the mining sector.
“This has contributed greatly to their failure to meet their obligations to NAPSA and loss of members to the Scheme due to the closures and job losses.
“The government has given powers to NAPSA to prosecute employers who fail to pay contributions to the Scheme … defaulting employers face up to a maximum of three (3) months imprisonment upon conviction.
“In the event that the government, as guarantor of the scheme, takes up the liability, it will be the tax payer in the end that will finance the unpaid contributions.
“The court can also prescribe a fine and payment of all outstanding payments and penalty arrears. NAPSA has inspectorate and prosecutions divisions with qualified prosecutors who are responsible for ensuring that erring employers are brought to book.
All members are free to go to any NAPSA office and inquire into the status of their contributions and to report any employer that is not remitting contributions in their own interest.