By SA Correspondent- About 20 members of the Ziscosteel Pension Fund have petitioned Parliament to press for the payment of US$3 million in outstanding pensions, documents obtained by NewsDay Business yesterday showed.

This figure translates to about $2,5 billion at the prevailing official foreign currency exchange rate.

The petition says the firm’s ex-workers were ready to be paid in Zimbabwe dollars.

The seven-page petition, which was submitted to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance and Economic Development about 10 days ago, showed that the 20-member group served the troubled steelmaker for a combined 600 years.

After leaving the firm at various stages, their attempts to be paid their pensions have been frustrated for a period spanning over half a decade, according to the Zimbabwe Pension and Insurance Rights Trust (ZimPIRT), which is representing the ex-Zisco staff.

Once southern Africa’s largest integrated steel operation, Zisco collapsed under the weight of unrestricted plunder and corruption by Zimbabwe’s elite over a decade ago.

Today, its Redcliffe operation — once a national pride — has been reduced to heaps of mangled steel and disintegrating furnaces.

Several global steel firms have attempted to take over the State-run firm, but many of the promising deals have faltered for various reasons.

-Newsday