Overview Of Social Protection Programs In Zimbabwe

Social security is also known as social protection. According to MacDonald (1998), the term social security encompasses the broad range of ways a society provides income support to its citizens of all ages. It includes universal benefits, earning related social insurance programmes, means tested social assistance programmes and tax mechanisms related to in come support and in kind transfer. Social security involves the protection of standards which the works would have achieved during employment period. Zimbabwe implemented five formal social security programs which include social welfare assistance, workers compensation fund, war victims compensation, state service disability benefits and pensions.

To start with Zimbabwe implemented social welfare assistance as a formal social security. It was implemented to provide for the granting of social welfare assistance to person in need and their dependants and to provide for matters incidental there to or connected there with. Any person can receive social welfare assistance benefits. Beneficiary receiving this application include any child of the beneficiary, including a step child, legally adopted child or child born posthumously who is under eighteen years of age. It provides financial assistance to destitute members of the society. The destitute members of the society are those who do not have an adequate and reliable income necessary for the basic needs. The destitute may rise from such factors as old age, unemployment, sickness, disability, death or desertion of a breadwinner. It is provided to people holding the citizenship of Zimbabwe. Not everyone is able to get assistance due to limited resources. The government is forced to tighten the situation for the citizens. The Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) is a non-contributory means the tested public scheme. The main source of funding is the government of Zimbabwe with the support from technical partners such as UNICEF and DFID. The programmes pays school fees for vulnerable and orphans.

In addition Zimbabwe implemented workers compensation is governed by the workers compensation insurance fund claims. Employees injured at work claim for compensation under this scheme by notifying the employer of the accident in writing. The employer is responsible for notifying the national social security authority. Part VI of statutory instrument 68 of 1990, which governs the operation of national social security authority accident prevention and workers' compensation scheme, sets out the procedure for obtaining compensation. It is funded by employers through contribution rates determined by the ministry of labour. Every assignment arising out of and in the course of employment must be reported to NSSA. The employer must be notified in writing of the accident as soon as possible.

The permit claims to accept within 12 months after the accident. The employer should contact the nearest NSSA office and the police within 24 hours. If the injured worker is unable to return to work, he should furnish NSSA through his employer, with a medical certificate confirming the off duty period. Civil servants and domestic workers are not currently covered by the NSSA Workers Compensation scheme. NSSA pays all the medical expenses related to a work injury or ailments. If the injury results in permanent disability the worker is paid a lump sum if the disability is 30 percent or less if more than 30 percent then monthly paid. If the employee dies as the result of a work related accident the surviving spouse receive two-thirds of the pensions the deceased person would have been entitled to. If the family is big the amount is share equally among them.

More so the war victim’s compensation was implemented as a social security in Zimbabwe. The legal instrument governing war victim’s compensation is the War Victims Compensation Act 1980 administered by the Ministry of Labor, Manpower Planning and Social Welfare. According to the act, war victim’s compensation 'provides for the payment of compensation in respect of injuries or the death of person caused by the war'. Only war related injuries or deaths, which occurred before 1st March 1980, are considered. It is mainly based upon the realization that war injuries impaired claimant’s capacity to earn income. The scheme is non-contributory and is financed by the state. The war victims’ compensation is therefore seen as an income maintenance scheme which apart from facilitating access to basic needs. Those who were dependant upon the persons who died as a result of war had their source of support cut off hence the need for the state to intervene in providing in come maintenance.

Furthermore Pensions and other benefits scheme (POSB) is a contributory old age scheme that is mandatory. The scheme pays old age pensions, disability pensions, survivor's pensions benefits and funeral assistance. It covers all employed person between ages 16 and 65 years who are citizens or residents of Zimbabwe which work in the formal sector. Domestic and informal sector workers are excluded. Since independence there has been a mushrooming of occupational pension covering all racial categories. Today there are various private occupational schemes in Zimbabwe some organized according to the industry they fall in. A survey carried out by ZIMSTATS (Zimbabwe Statistical Agency) in 2011 showed that these private schemes cover only 11% of all pensioners in Zimbabwe. According to Mbanje (1986) the absence of the principle of transferability in most occupational pension’s s instruments of social protection. Those protections who change employment often are disadvantages as they not entitled to full benefits under their occupational pensions. The targeted group form a small percentage of entire population.

State service disability provides for the payment of compensation on the death or injury of persons employed by the state and arising from official duties. Part one governs benefits and the application of the act, provides for the conditions under which persons are entitled to benefits and the time within which compensation may be claimed, allows for remedies against both the state and third parties. Part two establishes the Disablement Benefits Board to determine the entitlement of persons to receive compensation, establishes the Disablement Benefits Appeal Board to hear appeals, sets the powers and duties of these boards and the implications of board decisions. Part three governs compensation for disablement, regulates the duty of the degree of deactivation and the amount of disablement pension, provides for medical examinations and treatment, regulates medical expenses, provides compensatory sick leave and sick pay, widow's and child's pensions, funeral expenses, clothing, children, and educational allowances. Part Four makes general regulations, regulates the payment of reduced compensation if an injury occurred to a person with a pre-existing disability or condition, governs assessment of earnings, provides for payment in the case of polygamous wives. The Schedule regulates the calculation of degrees of disablement and the calculation of allowance amounts. In a nutshell the formal social security implemented in Zimbabwe helps people to feel secure and enjoy acceptable minimum standards of living. Therefore, formal social security provides safety on the basis of unity and mutuality at a national level, by sharing risks and sharing incomes in order to ensure that individuals do not fall below a suitable least standard of existing.