By A Correspondent – Government’s latest pension compensation figures have raised serious questions about whether Zimbabweans whose lifetime savings were wiped out by hyperinflation and currency failures are getting any meaningful justice.

Speaking in Parliament last week, Deputy Finance Minister David Mnangagwa revealed that Treasury has so far paid ZiG515.1 million to public pensioners who lost everything during the pre-2009 hyperinflation era.

For private-sector pensioners, however, Treasury has only released a paltry ZiG10 million to the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC).

Mnangagwa said private pensioners are being compensated under Statutory Instrument 162 of 2023, but claimed progress has been slowed by incomplete historical records held by pension funds and insurance companies.

“The compensation for private pensioners is progressing under Statutory Instrument 162 of 2023,” he said.

He added that the Attorney General’s Office is working on amendments to the regulations to try and address the challenges.

“Treasury has already transferred ZiG10 million to IPEC towards the exercise,” Mnangagwa said.

The token allocation comes against the background of massive losses suffered by pensioners whose savings and insurance benefits were rendered worthless during Zimbabwe’s economic collapse.

The compensation programme is based on the recommendations of the Justice Smith Commission of Inquiry, which found that pensioners and policyholders suffered huge prejudice and deserved full restitution.

Mnangagwa also told Parliament that Government had set aside US$75 million worth of shares in Kuvimba Mining House to compensate pensioners and depositors affected by the 2019 currency reforms.

“Dividends from the scheme have already benefited thousands of qualifying pensioners and depositors,” he claimed.

He said the Mutapa Investment Fund had distributed US$1.75 million each to IPEC and the Deposit Protection Corporation for further compensation.

While Government has tried to present the payouts as rebuilding confidence in the pensions sector, the figures expose how little is being paid compared to what was lost.

For pensioners who watched their entire life savings evaporate, the issue is not announcements, but whether the compensation matches the true scale of their losses.

The latest payments therefore risk being seen as yet another long-running exercise where pensioners continue to wait for justice that never comes.