Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has finally given in on the job cut plan proposed by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa in September 2016.
The Zimbabwean government’s employment costs constitute about 96.8% of total revenue collections, leaving no room for capital and developmental expenditure.
In his 2016 mid-term budget review statement, Chinamasa had proposed that government implement significant
civil service sector reforms as a way of controlling the country’s
ballooning budget deficit.
The proposal was however shot down six days later, with
government spokesperson and Information Minister Christopher Mushohwe saying Cabinet had rejected the proposals.
“The position of Cabinet is that the minister of finance and
economic development did not take into account the decision by Cabinet to
reject the proposal.
“The president and Cabinet want to assure the civil
servants and the public at large that these proposed measures are not
operative,” Mushowe said in a statement at the time.
The about-turn raised questions over how Mugabe's government plans to tackle a severe financial crunch that has
bedeviled the country for years.
He has now hinted at job reforms, telling
parliamentarians on Tuesday that government is “realigning and
restructuring” the civil service structure to make it more effective through
addressing duplications and abolishing redundant posts and overlaps among ministries.
Delivering the 2016 State of the Nation Address in
Parliament, Mugabe said “the resultant effect would be leaner and
flatter structures that are economic and would thus enhance effective and
quality service delivery”.
Analysts as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund see the job cuts as one of the ways Zimbabwe can improve on its economic challenges.