A BULAWAYO-BASED former Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra) veteran of the liberation struggle has accused a prominent insurance broker of offering ZiG200 and US$50 as funeral payout despite paying foreign currency-based premiums for 11 years.
Godfrey Mlalazi said Progressive Insurance Brokers (PIB), which caters for many war veterans, offered him the paltry amount for his mother-in-law’s funeral cover after paying premiums since February 2013.
He said he had been paying US$20 a month since he applied for a funeral cover with the insurance brokers.
“Since then, I have been contributing US$20 per month and this covers all the beneficiaries under me including my mother-in-law.
“We lost her on May 9 and we buried her on May 13 after I initially failed to get assistance when I went to the offices here in Bulawayo soon after the death of my mother-in-law, as there was no one responsible for the service I required. This was during the weekend,” Mlalazi said.
“We had to proceed with the burial after it emerged that my brother-in-law had a funeral policy, otherwise we were going to have serious problems with the funeral.”
Mlalazi said he had been visiting the PIB offices with officials, at one point, evading him before they offered the ZiG200 and US$50 as payout for funeral cover.
Contacted for comment yesterday, a PIB representative based in Bulawayo Collet Maduma confirmed that Mlalazi visited his offices for a funeral cover enquiry.
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He said PIB were brokers for a funeral parlour (name supplied) and they had since referred Mlalazi to its offices.
“He then asked to see his contributions and I gave him the figures that are in the computer and told him that in the system it does not show that he has been contributing in US dollars. I then told him to, either, go to the claims office or our head office in Harare for assistance,” Maduma said.
Mlalazi, however, indicated that the funeral parlour dismissed the PIB representative’s claims, adding that the latter was just a broker whom they only provided services after fulfilling their contractual obligations.
“Since the burial had already been done, I wanted the money to provide a tombstone for my in-law, but ZIG200 cannot even buy the tombstone head, it’s pathetic.
“I now rue why I remained with the PIB when other war vets left to join other funeral insurance service providers. War vets are its major clients but its service is pathetic,” he said.
