Public Service Commission in the Second Republic
Legal Mandate of The Commission
THE Civil Service Commission (CSC) is an arm of the Executive, created in terms of Section 202 of the Constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe amendment (no 20) Act 2013. This section provides for the establishment and composition of the Civil Service Commission and states that; “There is a Civil Service Commission consisting of a chairperson and deputy chairperson; and a minimum of two and a maximum of five other members; appointed by the President.”
Section 199 of the Constitution provides that there is a single Civil Service, which is responsible for the administration of Zimbabwe and an Act of Parliament must provide for the organization, structure, management, regulation, discipline and, subject to section 203, the conditions of service of members of the Civil Service. This Act is the Public Service Act {Chapter 16:04}
Role of the Public Service Commission
The Public Service Commission constitutes and presides over the planning and management of the institutional and human capital of the State. Its function is to guide and enable Line Ministries, their Departments and Agencies to plan and execute their respective mandates. In light of the rapidly changing political, socio-economic and technological environment and the economic development imperatives ushered in under the New Dispensation from November 2017, the Commission is enjoined to transform itself and steer the creation of an efficient and capable Public Service that meets the expectations of all the citizens of Zimbabwe and helps to propel the nation to the status of an upper middle-income economy and society by 2030. The Commission has crafted a national transformation and modernisation strategy that ensures that the core-functions, missions, strategies, structure, leadership and frontline personnel of all public institutions are fully devolved and aligned with Vision 2030.
Functions of the Public Service Commission
The national system of public administration and management in Zimbabwe is commonly referred to as the Public Service. The system is rooted in the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Act [No 20] of 2013. It encompasses all branches of government at national, provincial and district levels, including all the Independent Commissions, Public Agencies and Commercial Entities that are created by Acts of Parliament to implement the varied and broad mandate of the Public Service. The Public Service thus comprises public institutions whose structures, functions, systems, operations, and personnel are established and employed to execute the mandate of central government. These functions are executed at national, provincial and district levels and across different social and economic sectors. The performance of these functions is intended to promote responsive and adequate service delivery, drive inclusive national economic growth and achieve human rights-based and sustainable development that is anchored on peace, security and safety of persons and property.
The Public Service Commission is thus a constitutional arm of the Executive that is given its fiat through a welter of mutually reinforcing statutes, circulars and regulations, and is configured to support Line Ministries, and their Departments and Agencies in the following areas:
• Appropriate interpretation and definition of ministerial mandates
and functions; • Development of appropriate
functional structures, systems and operations of Line Ministries, Departments and Agencies; • Recruitment, deployment,
development and retention of qualified, competent and disciplined human capital;
• Consistent improvement and regulation of the salaries and conditions of service of members of the Public Service during active service and in retirement; and • Maintenance of the Public
Service in a high state of efficiency through training, performance planning and audits, and monitoring and evaluation.
New Strategic Thrust
In line with the new strategic thrust, a new vision, mission and values have been crafted as follows:
Vision
An empowered public service leading and propelling sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic growth and prosperity for all citizens of Zimbabwe.
Mission
To facilitate the delivery of responsive services and promote economic growth and development by enhancing the policy, institutional and operational capacity of the Public Service and its relevant partners.
Values
◆ Servant leadership, ◆ High ethics,
◆ High performance, ◆ Innovation, ◆ Entrepreneurship, ◆ Professionalism, ◆ Accountability, ◆ Inclusiveness,
The Strategy
To facilitate the establishment and management of a devolved system of public administration that effectively leads and propels Zimbabwe to greater heights of sustainable and inclusive social and economic growth and prosperity for all its citizens.
Strategic Pillars
The major focus of the Commission is to transform the Public Service through: a. Organisation Design and Management b. Remuneration [Pay and Benefit] Reform
c. Talent and Reward Management;
d. Capacity Development - Skills Development and Management; e. Improved Risk Management and Governance; f. Stakeholder Advocacy, Communication and Change Management;
g. Culture Change; h. Institutional Restructuring; and
i. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning.
All the strategic pillars are driven through the application of new technologies, including ICT enabled-platforms and innovations that facilitate efficient and cost-effective workflow systems and processes.
PSC and Line Ministry Collaboration
As part of the Executive, the PSC receives mandates of Ministries from the Office of the President and Cabinet which are translated into working structures that require human capital. The PSC further recruits, places, promotes, sets conditions of service and pays salaries and pensions to members. So, line Ministries depend on PSC structures and human capital for them to function properly and carry out their mandates in its role as employer. In its role as employer, the PSC also gives policy guidelines on human resources issues to line ministries. The PSC monitors ministries to ensure that they effectively execute strategies that are in line with their mandates and that they comply to approved structures, relevant policies and regulations. The PSC also plays a critical role in validating programmes and projects undertaken by the line ministries.
Public Sector Reforms
The Public Service Commission is part of the Tripartite that comprises the Office of the President and Cabinet, the PSC and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. The Tripartite leads and drives public sector reforms, through a ‘Whole of Government” approach. Among various areas of reforms are national development planning, performance management, ease of doing business, monitoring and evaluation, devolution roll out, culture change, as well as institutional and staff capacitation.
The New Dispensation has given impetus to national equity in development by adopting a more decentralised governance framework through devolution as a constitutional, structural and operational imperative. Devolution entails the transfer of some functions, authority and resources from national to sub-national levels of government and governance. For the Commission, the entry point to effect devolution is to empower provinces and districts to drive local and national economic growth and development using their own varied factor endowments. To drive the foregoing processes, the Commission is implementing a national transformation and modernisation strategy that ensures that the core functions, missions, strategies, structures, top leadership, managers and frontline personnel of public institutions within its ambit are fully devolved and aligned with and designed to realise Vision 2030. This the Commission achieves through the modification of structures and the development of detailed job descriptions that capture specific activities and inputs required of incumbents of devolved posts.
The transformation and modernisation of public administration and management is rooted in a new culture blueprint that is driven through a combination of higher levels of professionalism, ethical conduct, accountability
and performance orientation, all powered through new technologies, including ICT enabled platforms and workflow systems. The role to lead, design and implement the foregoing transformation and modernisation strategy for the Public Service, including Line Ministries and their Departments and Agencies at national, provincial and district levels lies with the Commission.
Non-Monetary Benefits For Staff Members
Government is undertaking various non-monetary benefit programmes for Civil servants. These include: • Public Service Vehicle
Scheme
Members of the Civil Service have been afforded a rebate on imported motor vehicles as part of the raft of measures to expand the range of non-monetary benefits. • Public Service Housing
Scheme
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in January 2019 between the Public Service Commission and the National Building Society on the provision of a $60 million facility to be utilised in the provision of affordable housing for civil servants. • Medical Insurance Scheme
-All civil servants are members of a subsidised medical aid scheme with PSMAS. • Staff Transport
-The Public Service Commission, in collaboration with the
Treasury, procured a total of 58 buses, 25 of which were commissioned in August 2019. Another 33 were commissioned in March 2020. This development has alleviated the transport challenges which staff were facing in the past. • Government Employees
Mutual Savings Fund
The GEMS Fund is modelled around the concept of a mutual savings and loan scheme which pools resources from a large number of people for their mutual benefit.
Civil servants form a commanding majority of the workforce in Zimbabwe and as members of
the GEMS fund, they will benefit from the immense economies of scale realised through the pooling of savings. Additionally, the Government’s up front injection of up to $200million as well as prospective future injections into the fund will provide strong support for the fund.
The GEMS FUND will give loans to members on the basis of cost recovery, with a small loan interest currently estimated at between 7 percent and 12 percent per annum. This works out to less than 1 percent per month. When compared to lenders who are currently lending to civil servants at interest rates of between 10 percent and 40 percent per month (over 600 percent per annum), GEMS clearly offers much lighter loan burdens on civil servants, from their own pool of resources, sustained through a combination of monthly contributions, nominal interest on loans and Government subventions.
PSC Secretariat
Under the New Dispensation, Zimbabwe has moved away rapidly from being a society characterised by a subdued and inward-looking economy and an under-performing system of public administration and management.
The current thrust is to have a Public Service that is underpinned and driven by an empowered, dynamic and innovative system, and that is capable of generating real-time solutions to the energising national challenge of delivering a sustainable and inclusive upper middle-income economy and society by 2030.
The new system of public administration and management therefore goes beyond the traditional expectation that the Commission will focus exclusively on organisational structures and appointments.
The new system places greater emphasis on line ministries, and their departments and agencies clearly rethinking and articulating their organisational purposes, strategic missions and goals, and translating the same into actionable and measurable development results and outcomes within planned timeframes and budgets, and principally in relation to the realisation of Vision 2030. In order to bring this new vision to realisation, the Commission undertook a restructuring process that focuses on a clear definition of jobs and roles, and on skills and competencies required for the delivery of well defined outcomes.
The PSC’s new, lean structure comprises five functional Agencies, namely Strategic Planning and Programme Management, Human Capital Development and Management, Pay and Benefits Development, Support Services, and Uniformed Forces.
There are several sections in each of these Agencies as shown in the table below:
Besides these Agencies, there are Units that directly fall under the Office of the Secretary to the Commissions. These are the: • Procurement Management
Unit; • Legal Services and Corporate
Affairs Agency;
• Internal Audit; and
• Training Development and
Management (Public Service Academy) Agency.
Concluding Remarks
Going forward, the PSC will endeavour to instill the value of servant leadership in the Whole of Government, with emphasis on the fact that a servant-leader is a servant first. Servant leadership begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, and to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who has an unusual power drive and who seeks to acquire material possessions. A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. It is on the basis of this philosophy, that the PSC has resolved to re-establish itself as an influential organization which puts its clients first and ensures professionalism and exceptional service delivery to all citizens of Zimbabwe.