THOUSANDS OF COMPANIES FAIL TO PAY SOCIAL SECURITY

More than 16,000 Mozambican companies are stealing from their workforce by failing to send contributions to the National Social Security Institute (INSS).According to the chairperson of the INSS board, Incencio Matavel, by June of this year these companies had accumulated a debt to the INSS of 431.7 million meticais (about 16 million US dollars).35,782 companies are registered in the social security system. Matavel’s figures indicate that almost half of these companies are failing to pay their social security obligations – even though in many cases the contributions have been deducted from the workers’ wages. Cited by the independent daily “O Pais”, Matavel said the INSS is trying to persuade the companies to pay their debts, but this has been an uphill struggle. As a last resort, the debts are handed over to the courts to collect them, but the companies know full well that this is a slow procedure.But Matavel insisted that the INSS is in good financial health, thanks to the investments it has made in treasury bonds, real estate and shares