The Sunday Mail
Lincoln Towindo Senior Reporter
Civil Service staff rationalisation which was introduced in 2016 has begun paying dividends, with Government now saving US$150 million-plus annually. The savings are largely attributed to abolishing selected posts, scrapping free transport and cutting student teacher allowances; all recommendations of the 2015 Civil Service Audit Report.
The report projects US$388 million could be saved once all its recommendations have been implemented.
Government is rationalising its workforce after an audit revealed that civil servant earnings were gobbling a staggering 90 percent of national revenue.
In the first half of 2015, for instance, Treasury spent US$1,54 billion on labour, against revenue of US$1,718 billion.
Monthly, US$120 million was spent on salaries, with the least-paid taking home about US$380.
The audit established that dominant labour cost drivers were overtime allowance and leave day abuses; salary fraud; idle manpower; role duplication and unco-ordinated recruitment.
Government has 188 070 employees, excluding uniformed forces and staff under the Health Services Board.
Responding to inquiries from The Sunday Mail, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira said 20 801 vacant posts have been abolished, resulting in monthly savings of US$10, 7 million.
Non-formal allowances, she said, have been streamlined, saving Treasury US$111 324 per month.
Scrapping free transport is saving US$83 334, while cutting student teacher allowances from US$329 to US$150 is keeping US$2 159 288 in Government’s purse every month.
In addition, US$13 462 is now being saved monthly following termination of bridging programmes at 26 State-run tertiary institutions.
Minister Mupfumira said, “Additional measures that have been implemented so far include the redeployment of 920 underutilised technical vocational teachers to institutions where their skills are required. Also 5 588 teaching posts at overstaffed schools have been abolished, with the educators being redeployed to other schools with vacant posts that would otherwise have been filled by others who are outside the structure.
“Furthermore, 340 deputy heads have been redeployed, while funding for 2 888 teachers in trust and private schools has been cut, with the affected teachers redeployed to Government schools.”
She went on: “All non-critical posts that fall vacant within the Public Service will automatically be abolished. Members in line ministries affected by rationalisation but have critical skills required elsewhere in the Public Service will be redeployed to areas of need.
“(We are also decentralising) supervisory levels, especially in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education through creation of District School Inspector posts for professional and technical efficiency. Implementation of the Human Resources Management Information System will strengthen decision-making since human resources data will be readily available. Capacity development of the remaining personnel in line ministries will be applied to enhance productivity.”
Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association chief executive Mr Sifiso Ndlovu said the process should be fine-tuned.
“Unfortunately, on this one, we won’t be celebrating with (Government) because rationalisation is not happening in the manner we thought it would. For example, data on rationalised or streamlined jobs has so far not been provided.
“Also in education, the teacher-student ratio is 1: 60 instead of 1: 40, so you cannot say you are freezing posts in this sector when there is a big shortage already.
“They should go to those ministries that they have not touched yet and rationalise. They are not critical sectors such as education and health.”
Human resources expert Mr Memory Nguwi chipped in, “It’s a positive development, but a lot still needs to be done because I read recently that Government has started hiring for some posts that had been frozen.
“We need to be careful there so that we don’t end up doing haphazard hiring, which can eat out all our gains. Also, Government needs to look at departments and workers who have been idle and redeploy or retire them so that it retains efficiency and productivity.
“Everyone must work for his/her dollar. We can only come to such a position if we collect relevant data, which will then inform our decisions. But we should also be careful when it comes to freezing posts; doing so entirely can prevent new blood from coming into the system. This can be prevented by absorbing our graduates so that they earn even a little while also gaining experience.”
Confederation for Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Busisa Moyo said: “It is really a positive and welcome development that Government is now starting to realise some savings from the rationalisation programme. This sends out a signal that our Government is committed to cutting expenditure and creating fiscal space.
“Ultimately, this will open up credit lines because lenders and investors would have been convinced by the Government’s efforts. What we want to see now is Government doing extensive streamlining so that we cut expenditure on salaries and improve productivity.”
