The recent debate in the Press over the intended increase in NSSA pension fund contributions has revealed some interesting perceptions and misconceptions about the role of a national social security fund. One major newspaper, in an editorial comment, suggested the original purpose of Zimbabwe's social security pension scheme was to provide "a rock-bottom pension that would keep the previously uninsured person from dying of starvation and would provide useful pocket money at a low price for those on occupational pensions".
That is not how social security schemes are perceived in other countries, particularly those that have had such schemes for many decades. It is not how Zimbabwe's social security scheme was designed.
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