Tendai Bare presents ideas for economic recovery in Zimbabwe at the 'Moving Forward with Pro-poor Reconstruction in Zimbabwe' International Conference, Harare, Zimbabwe, (25 and 26 August 2009)

1. Public Services and National Development:
Ideas for Post Crisis Recovery:
The Case of Zimbabwe.
By
Commissioner Tendai R. W. Bare.

2. Contents.
• Introduction and conceptual Framework
• Context and Background
– The Role of Public Service 19080-1997
– Effects of expansion
– Effects of Bureaucracy
– Poor Image of Public Officials
• The Public Service Reform Programme (PSRP) 1997-2002
• Public Service Reform Programme 2002-2008.
• Improving Human Resources Management
– Coordination of the reform
– Civic Participation
– Gender mainstreaming
– Monitoring and evaluation
• Status of the Reform
• Analysis of the Zimbabwe Public Service 2002-2008
• Conclusions and recommendations.
– Some suggestion and recommendation for the Public Service

3. Introduction and conceptual
Framework
• Origins of the Public Service in Africa
• Use of public service to translate polices to
service delivery
• The public service human resources
• Principles of public services delivery _ the UN
framework

4. Role of Public Service in Zimbabwe

5. Context
•At independence in 1980, the country inherited a colonial British administration with socio-economic
disparities in favour of a colonial minority and urban areas, against the blacks and
rural areas respectively.
•Central to national development was the issue of land ownership, which was at the core of
the national liberation struggle and skewed in favour of the minority population
•Through the public service administrative machinery, programmes to repair, maintain as
well as construct new public infrastructure, increase agricultural and marketing, particularly
in the marginalized rural areas, were put in place
•The government was compelled to develop policies that would meet expectations of the
citizens and adopt administrative structures that would deliver on the national agenda in
many areas of development supported by the international donor community resources.
•This donor-recipient relationship meant that government was not always able to develop
and employ its own policies due to imposed strictures and shortages of specialist skills to
promote that development.

6. THE ROLE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE 1980 – 1997
•In order to accelerate national development and acceptance of the public service by the majority,
the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe issued a directive of 1981, that Africanised the public
service
•The directive was resisted by not only the entrenched white officials who considered it a threat to
their positions but also black civil servants as well who were part of the colonial administration.
•The public service was therefore transformed to deliver services that were in tune with the new
social and economic environment
•Massive infrastructure development was undertaken in building and staffing schools, and
hospitals both in urban and rural areas with emphasis on the rural community
•The human development indices improved and expanded.
•Extensive training was devoted to community development and agricultural extension services
seen as key to promoting popular participation in development and raising agricultural
productivity respectively.

7. Effects of Public Service expansion
Year Primary
schools
Teachers Pupils
enrolled
Secondary
Schools
Teachers Student
enrolment
1980 2 411 28 455 819 566 177 22 107 66 215
1999 4 723 59 973 2 460 323 1 548 30 572 834 880
2004 5 007 69 461 2 464 862 1 680 37 871 866 399
2005 4 830 66 186 2 531 508 1 606 35 894 861 343
2006 4 842 66 220 2 493 260 1 642 36 175 883 267
2007 5 056 69 858 2 256 318 1 803 37 631 863 267
Source: Ministry of Education Sport and Culture 2007
•By the late 1990s the public service had grown to 192 000 from 10 570.
•Most of the rural infrastructure such as dams, weirs, boreholes, clinics, feeder roads and small
business damaged during the war were rehabilitated and new construction took place
•The schedule above illustrates the strides made by the new government in education whereas
before independence only three percent of black children attended secondary education

8. Graph A : Growth of employees in Public Administration
Growth of Public Sector Employees in Public Administration 1980 - 2004
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Number of Employees (In Thousands)
Source Central Statistics Office, July 2009

9. Graph B : Growth of employees in the Health Sector
Growth of Public Sector Employees in Health 1980 - 2004
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Number of Employees (In Thousands)
Source Central Statistics Officer, July 2009

10. Graph C : Growth of employees in the Education Sector
Growth of Public Sector Employees in Education 1980 - 2004
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
Number of Employees (In Thousands)
Source, Central Statistical Officer, July 2009

11. Effects of Bureaucracy
•The Kavran review
•Lack of performance management
•Arrogance and poor attitude to work
•High staff turnover
•A bloated centralised and secretive bureaucracy
•Non transparency
•Poor communication of decisions
•Inaccessible to the public
•Over complicated rules and procedures
•Overlap and duplication of functions

12. Poor image of the Public service.
• The projected poor image of the public service precipitated public distrust of
government officials.
• The Inspectorate and Audit Agency of the Public Service Commission reported in 2007
on several cases of abuse of state resources by provincial and district political
leadership by using fraudulent documents to acquire agricultural inputs at the Grain
Marketing Board (GMB).
• It was against the background of liberalising the economy that frequent labour and
public servants strikes emerged due to job losses occasioned by a receding economy
and corruption.
• The administrative restructuring that introduced cost cutting measures in order to
reduce the budget deficit led to further social dissatisfaction in society, as retrenched
civil servants also joined the unemployed labour force with no alternative means of
income.
• These developments negatively affected the ability of the public service to sustain high
quality services to the public with reduced human resources and budgets.
• The situation demonstrated the gaps that exist between policy makers and
implementers in carrying out major reforms.

13. The Public Service Reform programme 1997 2002
• The economic reforms undertaken in the early 1990s had adverse effects on society
• Further measures were therefore required that would restore quality service
• This was articulated in the Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Social
Transformation ZIMPREST 1996 – 2000.
• This was to be achieved through modernising and re-orientation of public service to
focus on results by installing public management systems that focus on results
• Ongoing reforms continued to outsource non-essential services such as cleaning and
catering and laundry services to the private sector. Subcontracting reduced posts by
10520
• Some government departments were commercialised, such as
– custom and exercise, now designated as the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority ZIMRA, and
– printing and stationery, Printflow.
• To improve governance and engagement of a disgruntled civil society in policy design
and implementation was effected through the National Economic Consultative Forum
(NECF), launched in Parliament in 1997

14. PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM PROGRAMME 2002-2008 -I
KEY POLICY MEASURES
• Monetary Policy Statement October 2005
– Establishment of inter-bank foreign exchange market to replace the auction system
– Subsidized leading to parastatals and strategic sectors
• National Economic Development Priority Plan NEDPP April 2006
– Creation of various committees and task forces.
– No specific policy and institutional actions.
– Monetary and ex-change rate policies un-addressed.
• Monetary Policy Statement July 2006
– 60 percent devaluation of Zimbabwe dollar against the US dollar.
– Fixed exchange rate
– Launch of economic reforms phase I and introduction of new set of bank notes to replace old ones.
– Relaxation of gold trading policy.
– Subsidized lending to parastatals and strategic sectors.
• Monetary Policy Statement January 2007
– Introduction of Economic Stabilization Strategy a comprehensive reform plan consisting of fiscal
discipline monetary tightening, privatization of parastatals etc.
– Termination of all quasi-fiscal activities by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Source: World Bank Zimbabwe Interim Strategy 2008 -2009

15. PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM PROGRAMME 2002-2008 (CONT.)
While the first phase of public service reforms discussed above focused on downsizing, and cost
saving measure to reduce the wage bill and public expenditure measures to improve
performance, the second phase concentrated on “enhanced performance and service delivery
and promoting good governance”. (Government of Zimbabwe 1998:120).
•However, whilst the public service reforms advocated for commercialization and or
privatization of parastatals in order to instil fiscal discipline the first three key policy measures in
Box 11, contradicted this position by continued subsidized lending to parastatals.
•These frequent policy changes amply demonstrate uncertainties and an impression of
unpredictable policy environment
•The measure of the public service performance is a function of the policy environment
including its capacity to carryout high quality policy-making functions and implementation.
•The public service performance capability is developed through restructuring of existing
institutions, introduction of modern management systems and enhancing the capacity of
individual public service staff.
•To this end in 2005, the public service reform instituted performance management system
(PMS) in order to improve service delivery
•Permanent Secretaries were expected to conduct regular performance reviews of their staff in
order to ensure that the intended objectives were met

16. PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM PROGRAMME 2002-2008 (Cont.)
• Improving Human Resources Management
– During this period, also a code of conduct was introduced and cascaded in all ministries.
– An Information Communication Technology (ICT) with complete human resources information
management system (HRIMS) was introduced
– Recruitment and promotion to the public service was professionalized
– HIV/AIDS and gender were mainstreamed into government policies and programmes.
• Coordination of Reforms
– change management units were established in each ministry and coordinated at the Public Service
Commission
• Civic Participation
– Involvement of civic organization in policy and programme design in order to enhance public
responsiveness and accountability component is conducted through the NECF. The client charter is
also used
• A Gender mainstreaming
– Gender mainstreaming mechanism was put in place in all ministries and treated as a key result area
• Monitoring and Evaluation
– Monitoring and Evaluation Department Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet was set up

17. ANALYSIS OF THE ZIMBABWE PUBLIC SERVICE 2002 -2008
• A strategic management approach is necessary that would link the public service reforms to the government’s
economic and social policies.
• Political uncertainty has also contributed to an unstable policy environment to the overall programme goal of
creating an enabling environment for reforms.
• Reform policies and systems have been put in place and implemented under extraordinary circumstances and
operational environment. This, in a way, reflects government’s commitment to have in place, a performing and
responsive government machinery
• The other observed weakness is in the Public Finance Management Information System (PFMIS) and Human
Resources Management Information System (HRMIS)
• On HIV/AIDS, though awareness has increased, lack of data on affected public service personnel, to reveal the
impact of the programmes on prevalence rates access to treatment remains problematic due to privacy laws
• Central to effective implementation of the reforms are the roles of the permanent secretaries. As accounting
officers, they should provide leadership and lead the process. It is not clear to what extend this role is recognized
in the programme and whether they themselves perceive and accept this role
• The Public reforms themselves, it has been observed, do not necessarily lead to poverty reduction, economic
growth and economic empowerment and the government recognized this in the ZIMPREST
• Perhaps the Integrated Results Based Management System (IRBMS) launched in February 2005 after three years
of planning and putting in place electronic enabling monitoring and evaluation mechanism, piloting for quick wins
may provide a solution for reconfiguring the reforms in a holistic fashion.

18. CONCLUSIONs
• The paper has attempted to show how the public service as the government
secretariat is a key player in the production and delivery of public goods.
• However, in the absence of a strong command centre that coordinates, provides
the momentum and political direction, mobilizes and allocate resources the
intended outcomes and benefits of the reforms may not be met.
• The reforms approved by Cabinet and if followed through by the incoming all
inclusive government now in place and if adequately budgeted to sequentially
implement and integrate reforms and evaluated for impact and results, have the
potential effect of transforming the public service into a high performing
organization
• Of the 13 target departments for cost recovery 11 (85%) have been implemented
and 7 (54%) have been commercialized. Of the commercialized departments,
ZINWA stands out as struggling to take off primarily due to the socio-political
environment
• Government has demonstrated the political will towards the reforms through its
decision to include the involvement of various interest groups

19. Some Suggestions and Recommendations for the Public Service

20. Some Suggestions and Recommendations for the Public Service (cont)
• 7. A service-wide introduction of ICT for public service management and service delivery..
• 8. Strengthen and capacitate the ZIPAM to refocus its mandate to develop and deliver
innovative training programmes that enhance public service performance by requesting the parent
ministry to assist with funding.
• 9. Develop the public service capacity to monitor and evaluate reforms in order to provide
evidence on which to re-strategize the reform process.
• 10. To enhance accountability conduct regular customer surveys in order to assess the conduct of
public official in service delivery and that service offered are accessible and meet client needs.
• 11. Strengthen the gender mainstream mechanisms in order to reach the 30 percent target of
women in decision making by 2015.
• 12. Sustain the trust generated by the NECF in contributing to policies and strategies formulation
for economic stabilization that would generate wealth and alleviate poverty by availing the necessary
resource for it to commission, as necessary specialized studies.
• 13. Sustain the commercialization of the remaining government departments benchmarked and
guided by those operating viably.
• 14. To improve the Minister Permanent Secretary interface, conduct retreat and or workshops
that strengthen this relationship.

21. Thank you for your attention