National Railways af Zimbabwe successfully settles longstanding pension fund arrears
The National Railways of Zimbabwe has cleared a huge debt running into billions of United States Dollars owed to its pension fund, which accrued over many years. NRZ Public Affairs and Stakeholder Relations Manager Mr Andrew Kunambura said the company had paid off all outstanding arrears due to the NRZ Contributory Pension Fund.
Last year, the NRZ was ranked number one by the Insurance and Pensions Commission in terms of companies owing pension funds.
Mr Kunambura said since the appointment of Ms Respina Zinyanduko as General Manager last year, there has been a deliberate policy to clear legacy debts, affecting the company’s attempts to lure investors.
At the time of her appointment, NRZ owed money to employees through salary arrears as well as statutory bodies including the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority which was owed Pay-As-You-Earn and Value Added Tax; the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund which was owed for the Training Development Levy and the National Social Security Authority for the social security pension.
The General Manager encouraged her team to work hard to ensure that all these debts were cleared to make the NRZ balance sheet attractive to potential investors.
Mr Kunambura said monies owed to NRZ employees and the statutory bodies were cleared some time ago and payments were now up to date.
He said the payment of NRZ Contributory Fund debt marked a major milestone in efforts to clear legacy debts.
“We are witnessing yet another key achievement in our debt clearance plan. NRZ is no longer owing the NRZ Pension fund. The outstanding debt was accruing punitive interest and Management took a bold decision to clear the debt for the benefit of both serving and former employees. All these debts were cleared using internally generated funds,” said Mr Kunambura.
He said efforts were also being made to reduce foreign legacy debts.
Mozambican railway operator, CFM, was owed US$6 million. Still, the amount now stands at US$3.2 million, while locomotive spares supplier Hethimix has also been paid part of the money owed to it, he said.
Mr Kunambura said on the operational side, NRZ was committing a certain percentage of its monthly cash flow towards procurement of spares and rehabilitation of infrastructure while waiting for its several recapitalisation initiatives to bear fruit.
Ms Zinyanduko said she was excited that they had cleared the long outstanding NRZ Pension Fund debt which had haunted the organisation for so many years.
She said the debt was accruing punitive interest and was becoming unbearable for the organisation. “I would like to further appreciate the NRZ staff for their dedication to duty. These men and women are always working extra hard to enable us to meet the stretch targets we would have set for ourselves. All these debts were settled using internally generated funds. We could not have made it if it were not for these hard-working employees,” she said.
