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Mugabe caves in on public service job cuts plan

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. 


 

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