MR ELSON GONYE HEAD – PAY & BENEFITS DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT

The Chairman, Dr Vincent Hungwe, on behalf of Commissioners and the Secretariat of the Public Service Commission, the Defence Forces Service Commission, the Police Service Commission, the Prisons and Correctional Service Commission and of the entire Public Service, wishes to convey deeply felt condolences to the bereaved family on the untimely passing of Mr Elson Gonye on Thursday 9 December 2021 while he was on assignment in Victoria Falls. Mr Gonye was the Head of the Pay and Benefits Development and Management Agency at the Public Service Commission.

The PSC family has been robbed of a dedicated, patriotic and loyal innovator, team player and reformer who from the time he joined the Commission in October 2019 worked tirelessly and contributed immensely to improving the Conditions of Service for Government workers in line with Vision 2030. Mr Gonye was a key player in the crafting and implementation of the Government Employees Mutual Savings Fund (GEMS) which has been successful in affording civil servants financial resources for various livelihood projects at nominal interest rates. As Government sought to do away with the Pay As You Go pension system, which did not provide sufficient predictability for pensioners, Mr Gonye played a key role in spearheading a more sustainable and reliable Public Service Pension Fund, on the basis of the Defined Benefit formula. A fund that started with seed money in the amount of ZWL$70.4 million in 2019 has grown to a market value of ZWL$21,225 billion owing to wise investment decisions in diversified portfolios, with significant assets created and acquired. Dividends from those investments are growing the Fund at a rate that has been well acknowledged in the market.

During his time at the Commission, Mr Gonye was a significant participant in a project to thoroughly examine the Government payroll with a view to ridding it of any possible ghost workers through a Biometric Authentication exercise. By the time of Mr Gonye’s untimely passing, practically 100% of civil servants had been verified. His valuable input in various committees that support the work of the High Level Tripartite (Office of the President and Cabinet, Public Service Commission and Treasury) which is driving Government’s Reform Agenda is a matter of record, particularly given his expertise as an actuarial specialist, will be greatly missed. A sign of maturity and strength of character that endeared Mr. Gonye to his colleagues was the total absence of hubris in his demeanor. None of the people he worked with recall him at any time flaunting the considerable knowledge and expertise at his command; all we remember is that engaging smile and the uninhibited peal of unpretentious laughter. And who can forget that high energy and that cheerfulness, both at work and at play?

Now that God is allowing us only the gift of Elson Gonye’s memory, we shall cherish it, and we shall be thankful for the manner in which our lives were enriched during the painfully short time Elson was with us in person. We miss him dearly, and join his family and his other friends in mourning the passing of a unique and irreplaceable relation, friend, colleague, leader and man.