President Emmerson Mnangagwa has designated the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Monitoring Implementation of Government Programmes Simbarashe Mumbengegwi as the minister responsible for the administration of the public service.
In a statement, the chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Mr Mariyawanda Nzuwah, said Minister Mumbengegwi will administer the Public Service Act [16:04] and the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management Act [25:17].
“Minister Mumbengegwi has been appointed to administer the public service. Section 201 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.20) Act 2013 provides that ‘the President must appoint a Minister to be responsible for the civil service,’” said Mr Nzuwah.
The appointment of Minister Mumbengegwi comes as a relief to the Apex Council who had written to President Mnangagwa expressing concern over the lack of effective communication between Government and its workers following the movement of the civil service to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).
The civil service used to be under the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.
It has since been reconfigured to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and the civil service now falls under the OPC.
Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) president Mr Richard Gundane yesterday said they had not received formal communication from the Government.
“We have not officially received the information but this would be a good move because we had raised the issue with the Government. We emphasised the importance of constant and formal communication between Government and its workers.
“Since the removal of the civil service from the Public Service Ministry, we were having a challenge in terms of where we have to go to get answers for our questions and concerns,” said Mr Gundane.
He said this had presented complications due to lack of dialogue between the civil servants and Government, adding that the term of office for the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) for negotiators had also come to an end.
Apex Council president Mrs Cecilia Alexander recently said they had written to the Government calling for the appointment of a minister who will administer the civil service following its movement to the OPC. – state media