MBABANE:Thembinkhosi Dlamini, the Executive Director of the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organizations(CANGO) says he did a research about the urgent need for a National Pension Fund in the country so that, emaSwati can survive beyond retirement.
Speaking to this Swaziland News on Thursday, Dlamini said as the situation stands, even civil servants cannot enjoy their pension adding that, most emaSwati are poor and fully dependent on pensionable Government workers.
“Civil servants are employed by Government and they have a pension but, if their relatives who work in the textile and other industries are without a pension, this means civil servants will share their pension with relatives at home who will expect them to buy food and feed them. So in my research that I did about twenty(20) years ago while in the University, I discovered that if a few emaSwati who work for Government have a pension and the majority are poor with no pension, this means those who have a pension will have to feed their relatives at home. So the proposed National Pension Fund has a huge potential to succeed, if all workers in the country will, by law, become members and poverty will be mitigated”, he said.
The CANGO Director emphasized that, most emaSwati working in the textile and other industries normally struggle after reaching the retirement age and therefore, the proposed conversion must be supported for the benefit of all emaSwati.
CANGO Director Thembinkhosi Dlamini.