Agricultural Employers Association against new proposed National Pension Fund

Staff Reporter

THE Agricultural Employers Association (AEA) has voiced its discontent with the new proposed National Pension Fund, which mandates contributions from all workers, emphasizing that this move would potentially exacerbate unemployment in the country.

Tanja Dahl, the spokesperson of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), revealed that Christine Stoman and Danie van Vuuren, representing the AEA, attended consultation meetings regarding the government’s proposed National Pension Fund earlier this month. The meeting, attended by employer organizations and labour unions, was organized by the Ministry of Labour and facilitated by a consultant from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Dahl reported that during the meeting, participants expressed their dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Labour’s intention to implement the new National Pension Fund without consulting stakeholders. She explained that this means the ministry intends to go against a pension model that the Social Security Commission (SSC) had already accepted and recommended in 2018 after years of negotiations, consultations, and consensus among stakeholders.

“The SSC’s negotiated model is primarily a defined contribution type fund where each participant has their own account in the fund, similar to most private pension funds and retirement annuities in the country. The ministry’s model, on the other hand, is primarily a defined benefit type fund, similar to the pension fund for government officials, the GIPF, where individuals do not have individual accounts and it operates on the principle of cross-subsidy,” Dahl explained.

She added that the ministry’s proposal entails mandatory participation in the National Pension Fund by all workers in the country, regardless of the fact that the majority of workers already provide monthly contributions to retirement or annuity funds. If the ministry continues to unilaterally impose additional costs on workers, she continued, unemployment will further rise in a country where youth unemployment already reached 50% of the employable workforce.

“Following the meeting, participants decided to form a representative task group comprising all employer organisations and labour unions to further negotiate with the ministry on this matter, and time will tell whether it will yield results,” she said.