Scores of people in the Copperbelt Province have lined up at National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) offices in a bid to access the partial pension withdrawal that came into effect on Monday.
President Hakainde Hichilema on Monday signed into law, the National Pension Scheme Amendment Bill 2023 which allows for the partial withdrawal of pensions.
The new law gives citizens the opportunity to reinvest the funds into various ventures and assets of their choice.
Beneficiaries need to have made more than 60-months contributions to the Authority or be above 45-years old.
Members who qualify will have a once -off access of 20-percent of their contributions before retirement.
Early on Tuesday morning, scores of people were seen queuing up at the NAPSA customer service centre in Kitwe and Ndola.
Long and meandering queues have characterised NAPSA offices in Kitwe and Ndola with people lining up as early as 07:00 hours.
People have already started processing their papers for submission in readiness for partial payment of their NAPSA benefits.
Some people interviewed by Radio Icengelo News and ZNBC said they are expecting a smooth operation at NAPSA Offices.
“NAPSA is asking for the NRC (National Registration Card) and email address. Some of us have been told to open email accounts but it is not good for us who do not have email accounts. I am expecting NAPSA to work according to the law without delay. Most of the people who are here are not in employment so they need money to sustain their lives. They want to use that money to support their families, to start business and invest. We expect the process to be strong. Not everyone has access to emails so I think NRC is enough and some people are old to have access to smartphones. NRC shows everything so what is the point of NAPSA asking for email addresses from the people? This is causing congestion and unnecessary delays in the process,” a man told reporters at the Kitwe Branch.
Others thanked President Hichilema and the New Dawn Government for fulfilling the campaign promise of enabling people to access the partial pension withdrawal.
Another one added:”The process is just ok and I think this should have been done way back by previous governments but if you look at this government’s decision, I will commend the President. This is very important. This is what we expected if you look at the economy you will find that most of the people are not in employment. So this will accelerate the economy as people get money to invest, support their children and build houses. There are few people who have got money in Zambia. If you are to look at what is happening, things are really hard but as a Christian I would thank the President for what he has done. I looked forward to the enactment of this law.”
According to NAPSA Director General Muyangwa Muyangwa, the payment of the partial benefits will be paid to a beneficiary’s Bank or Mobile Money account.
To sign up for the pre-retirement benefit one needs to have an active personal email address, passport size photo, copy of National Registration Card , phone number registered in the name of the beneficiary.
Claimants do not need to visit the NAPSA office to claim because all claims will be done online.
When signing the bill into law, President Hichilema said the partial pension withdrawal will give citizens the opportunity to reinvest the funds into various ventures and assets of their choice.
“The new law will give citizens the opportunity to reinvest the funds into various ventures and assets of their choice. As a result more jobs will be created, contributing to our economic development agenda,” the Head of State remarked.
Let’s help these “computer illiterates” with the electronically connected systems to decongest these NAPSA offices. The digital age has overtaken most of us. This program is purely online.
Complaining about not having an email address sure? We are allergic to technology and prefer to que for hours when you can do the process from home.
How about members who paid more than 180 contributions by the time they retired and could not be paid in full, their contributions, instead are being paid monthly allowances, are they also entitled to napsa 20% partial withdrawal?