Africa-Press – Eswatini. ENPF Board Chairperson Mashumi Shongwe has called for the quick enactment of a Pension Fund Scheme.
Shongwe said the absence of a Pension Fund Scheme meant that there was no life for workers in the country. “There is no National Pension Scheme for old people. we request the minister to act on that issue and give it the urgency it deserves,” the chairperson said.
According to the chairperson the Provident Fund is an important institution within the country’s social security system that was established to provide social security to the most vulnerable workers in the country. “A majority of whom do not have the luxury of a pension scheme, and the provident fund remains their only hope for survival after retirement,” Shongwe lamented.
Meanwhile, minister of Labour Phila Buthelezi said the conversion of ENPF to a Pension Fund was one the longest outstanding issues at ENPF.
“Many of you would attest that this issue has been the Ministry’s outstanding agenda items for a long time, but without it coming to fruition. I also committed myself when I got to the office that I would do my uttermost best to see it through,” he said. He added that currently, they have a Bill which the attorney general has gone through, and it was now with Cabinet before it would go to Parliament.
He assured stakeholders that all due processes were followed when the piece of legislation was drafted, adding that, however, everyone should bear in mind that it cannot be 100 per cent perfect, and might not satisfy everyone from the start.
“Every piece of legislation is reviewed time and again to include all those issues stakeholders feel should be included time and again. On this initiative, I can talk the whole day, but it is better for now to leave it like this, and I promise that I and my team, together with my technicians, ENPF are really working tirelessly to see this conversion,” the minister said.
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