The Sunday Mail
Like Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, Lemon Damasaka believes a man’s sole purpose is to provide for his family through the works of his hands.
To him, a man who does not use his hands to fend for his family deserves no sympathy and should be left to die of hunger.
As he reaches for the wise book to buttress his point, the 67-year-old’s rough, cracked black hands bear testimony of his beliefs.
He places the book on his baggy worn-out trouser that is forcibly tied to his small waist by a brown belt that has obviously seen better days.
He occasionally licks his fore finger as he slowly flips through the pages.
He stops and loudly reads from the book of Proverbs 6:6:
“You see, I have always been a hard worker,” he modestly acknowledges.
“I crossed into Zimbabwe in 1974 from Malawi and started looking for employment almost immediately,” he says as he leans against a mud-plastered zinc-roofed two-roomed cottage that serves as the main house.
As luck would have it, Damasaka got employed immediately at Sun Ridge, a tobacco farm situated 12km west of Harare.
“I did not know much about tobacco farming, but because of perseverance and hard work, I was promoted until I was managing the farm’s tobacco section.
“I was among the highest paid workers,” he says attracting the attention of neighbours whose dwellings may be easily mistaken for Damasaka’s.
As his fortunes grew, Damasaka married Juliet in 1975 and sired eight children.
It’s quite sad that of all his eight children, only two remain.
“With that responsibility on my shoulders, I knew I had to make investments. I bought a few cattle, sent my children to school and in 1999 I joined Nssa (National Social Security Authority), it was the only scheme that I knew at the time”.
“I contributed an equivalent of $18 every month for almost 10 years”
“I wanted a comfortable life and with that wanted to spend my remaining days on earth living comfortably. After retirement that is,” he said.
His red-shot eyes make a quick glance at his surroundings, and almost immediately changes tone once he mentions NSSA and his forgotten dream of wanting to live comfortably after retirement.
If all goes well, Damasaka will finally begin receiving his monthly pension payouts from NSSA in February next year.
He could not receive his pension payout before, soon after retirement, as he had not reached the required minimum age of 60 years, which enables one to obtain the payouts.
Such has been the inconsistencies of NSSA operations as it pertains to pensioners as there are way too many clauses that prevent these people from receiving their money even if they retire a bit earlier than expected or are forced to retire due to issues like health.
While the life expectancy of Zimbabwean men currently stands at 58 years, the 60-year threshold is one of the issues that need addressing if Damasaka and others like him are sure to receive the treatment they deserve.
As for now Damasaka sustains his life by working in other people’s fields getting paid a bucket of maize or a US$2 – 5 depending on the nature of the job, something that is also straining his already frail body.
Damasaka’s case is but a tip of the iceberg as many pensioners in Zimbabwe who anticipated a comfortable retirement after religiously paying their contributions to pension schemes during their employment days continue experiencing numerous problems.
The Government of Zimbabwe constituted and established the National Social and Security Authority (NSSA) Act of 1989 Chapter 17: 04.
The statutory corporate body was tasked with providing social security.
The provision of social security can be defined as instituting public policy assurances intended to protect an individual in life situations or conditions in which his/her livelihood and wellbeing may be threatened, such as those engendered by sickness, workplace injuries, unemployment, old age, retirement and death.
It is based on the principle of social solidarity and pooling of resources and risks, involving drawing of savings from periods of employment, earnings and good health to provide for periods of unemployment, old age, invalidity and death.
Accordingly, the National Social Security Authority was formed in October 1994 with the purpose of protecting individuals from life situations that may threaten their livelihoods.
As the organisation celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, many like Damasaka have nothing to celebrate as they hardly have anything to show for the years of contributions.
At the moment NSSA is administering two pension schemes which are pension and other benefits scheme and accident prevention and workers’ compensation scheme.
The Pension and Other Benefits Scheme is based on a 50-50 contribution from both the employers and employees, where the workers are entitled to a number of benefits after contributions for a minimum set period and having met the qualifying condition of each of the benefits.
The minimum contribution period for a retirement pension is 10 years.
The insurable earnings ceiling from which deductions are made has been set at US$200 per month.
This enables a pensioner to receive $60 monthly after initially receiving $200 at the beginning of pay-outs.
The scheme also provides for surviving spouses who receive $30 monthly after receiving $200 at the beginning of pay-outs.
However, for Regina Muranda, a surviving spouse, the $30 monthly payout has not changed her life in any way.
“I sometimes receive as low $24 a month because of bank charges.
“I have to pay a bus fare of about $10 to and from where I live and this means I am left with a mere $14.
“My children have since dropped out of school because I can no longer afford to send them to school and that has been the most painful thing for me,” she said.
“My sincere plea goes to NSSA authorities to at least increase the pay-outs.”
Her cry, however, seems to be every pensioner’s silent prayer.
Among the other cries from pensioners are for NSSA to decentralise their operations and this has become cumbersome for most who live outside the capital and have to travel to have their grievances and queries addressed.
Also, another plea is that the company reviews the cut-off dates as it does not really tie into the country’s life expectancy or factor in forced retirements due to injuries or health problems.
