HARARE - Government has announced it will resume remitting pension funds to former workers of Malawian origin who were retrenched in the past.

Remittance of the funds was stopped because of lack of records and economic problems experienced in the country.

Speaking in the Malawi capital, Lilongwe, at the weekend Zimbabwean ambassador to Malawi, Thandiwe Dumbutchena, said all was set for the resumption of the remittance of the funds.

“It pleases me to declare the resumption of the fund,” she said.

Dumbutchena said millions of Malawians contributed to the economic growth of Zimbabwe in various ways, mostly in mining.

“In recognition for the industriousness of Malawians and the role Malawians played in the economic growth of Zimbabwe we are committed to paying their pension,” she said.

This comes after Zimbabwean Mining Industries Pension Fund (ZMIPF) went to Malawi to identify former mine workers.

ZMIPF pension’s manager, Daniel Sithole confirmed to the Daily News that the company visited 11 districts in Malawi to identify beneficiaries.

“Our team went to Malawi to identify former mine workers, we are still in the process of compiling the data as our team only came back on Saturday. We will only be able to release the number of people and amount to be dispensed in due course,” Sithole said.

The lack of a national identity system has been a hindrance to the process of beneficiary identification, according to the ZMIPF spokesperson Thumani Ndlovu.

According to the spokesperson, at least 500 beneficiaries have been identified and verified but records of some 200 others could not be verified because the beneficiaries had since died but there were no records.

The Malawian labour ministry has advised relatives of deceased former workers to get death certificates as proof for easy pension processing.

Efforts to get a comment from the finance ministry were futile as the minister is currently out of the country. - Ndakaziva Majaka