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Martin Tarusenga
The National Assembly debate on January, 24, 2018, (published in Parliament Official Report Vol. 44, No. 35) Mutasa South MP Irene Zindi asked whether or not President Emmerson Mnangagwa had received a report by the Commission of Inquiry on conversion in 2009 to United States dollars, of benefits due from pension and insurance contracts.

The commission was headed by retired judge, Justice George Smith.
Deputy Finance and Economic Planning Minister and Harare East legislator Terrence Mukupe responded that the report had been presented to the President and was awaiting tabling in Cabinet, after which it will be made available to the public.

In similar vein, pensioners and insurance policyholders of the Zimbabwe Pensions and Insurance Rights Trust (ZimPIRT) had met on December 1, 2017, in the wake of The Herald report of October 24, which alleged officials from the Finance Ministry had meddled in the commission’s inquiry on the issue.

Acting ZimPIRT board of trustees chairman Thomas Kanjere confirmed the convening of this meeting. The Herald report suggested that high ranking officials from the Ministry of Finance meddled with the inquiry, leading to the resignation of a commissioner and subsequent production of a report whose credibility is in question.

Strangely the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, instead of the chairman spoke on behalf for the Commission in this report. The chairman of the Commission would not comment.

Against a background when they had pinned their hopes on this Commission, pensioners had met to check that this was not another of the several hindrances to pension payments that they had faced in the past at the hands of ministry officials, and to be updated on when they could expect to receive their rightful pensions having contributed for years upwards of 30.

This came when several of the pensioners were passing on, before receiving their pensions. Among those pensioners who attended were representatives of pension funds including from Zupco, Bata Shoe Company, National Railways of Zimbabwe, ZimPhos (Chemplex unit), Zimbabwe National Family Planning, Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe and Old Mutual.

Several insurance policyholders with insurance policies, including insurers in Zimbabwe, also attended.
After a reminder of the history of hindrances and anecdotes of what could have transpired with the Justice Smith Commission, pensioners inquired from its ZimPIRT management and board why the Commission had not regularly and publicly updated pensioners on its progress and on any reports it had produced. This was because it had publicly consulted throughout the 10 provinces of the country back in 2015 when it started work.

Pensioners who had regularly visited the Commission offices at the New Government Complex to check on progress submitted that the commission secretary would repeatedly advise them that only the President would divulge the outcomes of the inquiry and that they would not be informed of anything about the inquiry until then.

In circumstances when it had been reported that the Ministry of Finance had meddled with commission’s report, through the commission secretary, as per the Herald report, pensioners were more reasonably inclined to believe that they should have been, and should be appraised of progress on this inquiry, and of any reports before any Presidential assent of the commission’s report.

After all, Justice Smith is reported elsewhere to have been reporting on inquiry progress up to a certain point in 2016.
ZimPIRT legal counsel attending the meeting, Joel Mambara advised that the commission of inquiry itself was and is a public matter.

Zimbabweans are and were entitled to information as to its progress and to the outcomes of the inquiry before being adopted.

Any insinuations that the inquiry is top secret are wholly unfounded, and contradict the commission’s very initial inquiry approach to engage the public through public hearings of late 2015. Pensioners and the public in general need to be given a chance to have sight of the commission draft report before it is submitted to the President for his assent.

This clearly contrasts Hon Mukupe’s submission in Parliament.
The pensioners opposing stance on public disclosure of inquiry progress and reports, before Presidential assent was made a matter of conviction on pensioner speculation that the ministry meddled with the Commission’s report to their prejudice.

Secrecy on the inquiry would keep the inquiry project away from the public, to allow meddling with the inquiry as well as to allow possible meddling with the commission’s final report, allow plagiarism in this final report, and finally to take the public by surprise with a manipulated report, after the President’s assent, when this report would already have become law.

Hon Mukupe’s (public) stance in Parliament is clearly pitted against that of the pensioners. The correct stance and procedure for such an important matter needs to be decided on.

To be sure commissions of inquiry “ . . . seek to broaden the basis of public policy-making beyond government, Parliament and interest groups, through engaging a wider range of participants in a more public arena to generate new ideas, develop consensus (Sage Journals).

The Guidance and Practice handbook on commissions of inquiry and fact-finding missions on International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of the United Nations says “Commissions of inquiry and fact-finding missions have proved to be valuable in countering impunity by promoting accountability for such violations.

They gather and verify information, create an historical record of events, and provide a basis for further investigations.
They also recommend measures to redress violations, provide justice and reparation to victims, and hold perpetrators to account . . . ” It goes on to say “The public has a legitimate interest in being informed of the commission and its work.
It is also in the interest of the commission to make information available on its existence, its mandate, its methods of work and especially how it can be contacted by people wishing to submit information.

The commission will have to determine its public information and media strategy at the start of its work, specifying to what extent it will be public about its work. In some cases it might be useful to adopt a low-key position, while others will call for a more public stance.”

The President must critically check that this Commission of Inquiry operated within statutes of Commissions of Inquiry of Zimbabwe and that Ministry officials did not meddle with it, and ensure that pensioners are paid their rightful benefits sooner.

Martin Tarusenga is general manager of Zimbabwe Pensions & Insurance Rights. Email: [email protected]; Tel: (0)4 797020; Cell: 0772 889 716