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Workers shun civil service employment
Shame Makoshori, Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
February 20, 2008

http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/zimworkers210208.htm

Gone are the days when Zimbabwean civil servants enjoyed such benefits as flexible work schedules, telecommuting, family friendly feave policies, employee assistance programs, part-time & job sharing positions, child & elder care resources adoption, or child support services - to name but a few. The motto is now "each one for themself". All hope is lost by the workers that they encourage each other to enjoy the present days because the following week they will be calling these days -the good old days.

The government is battling an acute shortage of skilled and professional staff, with indications that last year, it failed to fill close to 1 300 vacancies across ministries due to an escalating brain drain. The government had up to 1 274 vacant posts last year, which it still failed to fill under its controversial cadetship programme meant to bond government-trained professionals to mitigate a staff crisis. The figures on the growing staff shortage in the public service exclude the teaching and accounting professions as well as the security forces.

The vacancies include those at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), a parastatal falling under the Ministry of Transport and Communication. Apparently, even hordes of desperate job seekers are shunning employment in government and state-owned agencies. The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development, which had 108 vacancies for engineers and 20 other professions, only received 53 applications, while the Ministry of Transport, which wanted 202 vacancies filled, had only 10 applications.

In fact, out of 1 274 unfilled positions, there were only 279 applications. The destination of staff leaving the public service was not immediately clear, but many teachers and nurses have quit to hunt for jobs in neighbouring countries or join the private sector in the country. Interestingly, the NRZ had 120 applications to fill 96 vacancies, indicating that there was still an appetite to join better paying state institutions in the country. The Public Service Commission (PSC) has previously acknowledged the massive brain drain in the public sector. The PSC last year resolved to recruit students to replace the experienced professionals fleeing poor remuneration in the public sector.

Documents obtained by The Financial Gazette indicate that as at June 15, 2007, 240 highly skilled professionals were required by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. These included doctors, pharmacists and dental professionals. These included structural engineers, electrical engineers, quantity surveyors, civil engineers and others. The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development was short of 20 geologists, metallurgists and Mining Engineers while the Ministry of Transport had vacancies for 49 people.

A confidential document seen by this newspaper said 90 percent of 1 519 people interviewed in a government survey wished to migrate. Seventy six percent of graduates said they were ready to take up employment in better paying institutions locally, while 86 percent post-graduates said they would not stay in Zimbabwe. "Better opportunities and remuneration were cited as the reasons for migrating," the report said. It added: "For example out of 2 800 graduates coming from the University of Zimbabwe per annum, 2 100 wished to leave the country." An estimated 3,1 million Zimbabweans are believed to be working in other countries with 37 percent of them in the United Kingdom. 35 percent are believed to be working in Botswana, five percent in South Africa while 3,4 percent are estimated to be residing in Canada.

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