A former Minister of Finance and Economic Development (GNU era), Tendai Biti has told Old Mutual to pay back pensioners money which he says the financial institution had stolen.
Biti who is also the Vice President in the opposition MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa made the remarks in response to a social media post by Old Mutual on its Amazing Voices judges. Old Mutual had said:
_The Old Mutual Amazing Voices judges: @AmmaraBrown, @trigmaticrocks, @evellemusic, @filah_tuju and @VusiNova come with personalities larger than life. Yet we love the energy they bring to the room. Reply below & tell us who your favourite judge is. #AmazingVoicesAfrica_
Biti would not have any of it and demanded that Old Mutual pays back the pensioners’ stolen money. He said:
_Please stop your nauseating PR exercises and bring back the billions of dollars you stole from pensioners and savers across Zimbabwe. You are causing deaths of innocent Zimbabweans through poverty, Stress and High Blood Pressure.#PayBackTheMoney_
Old Mutual offers three types of Pension Funds as follows: Defined Contribution Scheme, Defined Benefit Scheme, and Hybrid Scheme (which combines the features of the above two schemes).
Following the adoption of a multi-currency system in 2009, Old Mutual is one of the insurance firms that clashed with pensioners and policyholders who were unhappy with the paltry benefits being disbursed to them.
Biti in 2013 also asked Treasury to make a follow up with the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) – the insurance regulatory body – concerning the paltry pension pay-outs.
He said a lot of people lost their contributions and ultimately their savings to the pensions and insurance companies adding that the IPEC had to respond to the allegations levelled against it.
Biti said he was one of the affected contributors. He took out a policy in 1994 with an assured sum of Z$50 million (about US$20,000 the exchange rate of the time), but to date, he has never received a cent.
In 2020, Biti claimed Old Mutual is the biggest beneficiary of the economy’s mismanagement adding it has made billions from Zimbabwe’s collapse. He added:
_It must be sued to the bone. Under a decent Government it must be made to pay compensation of the billions it has looted from unsuspecting pensioners._
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