FORMER employees at Zvishavane-based platinum producer, Mimosa Mining Company, are set to pocket windfalls after the pension fund finalised compensation payment modalities for pre-2009 pension losses.
A subsidiary of the Impala Platinum (Implats) Group, Mimosa, is a major employer in the extractive sector, whose pensioners lost value of their savings around 2009.
The lnsurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) in March this year deferred compensation payments after receiving pension funds submissions that were not compliant with statutory provisions.
In a statement Friday, IPEC confirmed Mimosa Pension Fund has regularised its position and will soon start disbursements to deserving pensioners.
"The Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) wishes to inform stakeholders that it has approved Mimosa Pension Fund's pre-2009 compensation scheme after it complied with all the requirements of Statutory Instrument 162 of 2023 (pre-2009 pension compensation regulations).
"The approval paves the way for the fund to commence the compensation exercise.
"Once a compensation scheme is approved, the pension fund will directly communicate with eligible members regarding the payment modalities," reads a statement from the regulator.
Meanwhile, IPEC is reportedly working with other funds that are close to complying with the requirements of the compensation regulations, to facilitate their compliance, so that their compensation matrixes can also be approved.
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In the same vein, authorities are pushing for prosecution of errant pension funds, some of which reportedly wiped-out savings which do not have trace.
"The Commission is in the process of instituting criminal proceedings against non-compliant entities in line with Statutory Instrument 162 of 2023."
Between 2007 and 2009, Zimbabwe's economy experienced supersonic inflation, which eroded the value of savings including pensions.
Government in 2015 constituted a Commission of Inquiry led by retired judge, Justice George Smith, to investigate the causes and extent of the loss of value of life insurance policies and pensions suffered by policyholders and pensioners following the conversion of the Zimbabwe dollar policies to foreign currency in 2009.
The inquiry panel found out that most policyholders and pensioners were prejudiced during the conversion process and recommended that they be compensated.
Following the gazetting of the compensation framework in 2023, IPEC called on the industry to submit compensation plans for approval.
In March this year, the regulator reported that none of the 1 249 assessed compensation schemes were approved due to non-compliance with the provisions of Statutory Instrument 162 of 2023 (compensation regulations). Therefore, Mimosa Pension Fund becomes the first to get approval.
