Govt Offers Former Vice President ZWL$765k Pension & Benefits
The government has refused to give in to former vice president Phelekezela Mphoko’s request to have his pension paid in United States dollars.
Mphoko approached the court declaring government’s decision to withhold his US$320 000 pension illegal and unconstitutional.
However, the Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda, said Mphoko did not explain how he arrived at US$320 000. Instead, the former Vice President will be paid ZWL$765 706,58 as pension and benefits. Said Sibanda:
The applicant cannot simply convert what he used to earn at the going bank rate without taking into consideration the changes brought in by the departure of the multicurrency regime.
In this regard, therefore, there is a dispute as to what the respondent may be entitled to.
I have in the circumstances asked for computation to be done by the pensions office as regards the amount due and payable to Mphoko and I am reliably informed that the amount is $765 706.58.
Mphoko was appointed vice president in December 2014, until he was removed from office in November 2017 following a military coup that toppled the late former president Robert Mugabe.
He joined the civil service in 1981 and according to the law, he is entitled to a pension and benefits.
