ZANZIBAR Social Security Fund (ZSSF) has about 30,000 dormant members whose whereabouts remain unknown, the House of Representatives heard here yesterday.
Deputy Minister of State, President’s Office, Finance and Planning Ali Suleiman Ameir told the house that 29,611 members have dormant accounts with the pension fund, saying some might have died, lost jobs or just joined politics.
“There is nothing that ZSSF can do because it doesn’t know their whereabouts,” the deputy minister said in response to a supplementary question by Uzini Representative Haji Shaaban Waziri, who wanted to know the fate of ZSSF members with inactive accounts.
Answering the main question by the legislator, the deputy minister said usually the social security fund receives members’ information from its inspectors who visit employers, employees, close relatives or local leaders.
The fund can also get information about active members through the verification exercises or other communications means.
ZSSF, the deputy minister informed the house, has devised a system that integrates various public and private institutions, including tourism and labour commissions to ease collection of information on all employees in the public and private sectors.
He admitted that there are some ZSSF members with money in the fund but they haven’t been paid because they remain below the retirement age.
