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Farirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe professionals continue to be on demand across the world with the country expected to enter into labour agreements with Qatar and Angola soon as they submitted their requests to Government, Permanent Secretary for Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Mr Simon Masanga told Parliament yesterday.
Mr Masanga was appearing before a joint sitting of the portfolio committees on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and on Primary and Secondary Education to brief them on Government policy on recruitment and deployment of teachers.
Zimbabwe already has a worker-exchange agreement with Rwanda and a delegation from there is already in the country carrying out interviews.
The country is well-known for producing skilled professional in various fields and are on demand across the globe and Mr Masanga said there was nothing wrong in sharing the skills with friendly countries.
“We lose nothing by sharing our skills with sister friendly countries like Rwanda. I just want to allay fears that these teachers are running away from the Government of Zimbabwe. This is not the case and this is not unique to Zimbabwe,” he said.
“Soon after completing this exercise with Rwanda, which is just not focusing on teachers but professionals in other areas it’s so wide. We will also have an opportunity to take professionals from Rwanda if we wish. We will also have another bi-lateral labour agreement with Qatar, they have already submitted their request and also Angola who also want English teachers.
“But we will do it in such a way that will not compromise our local standards but it will assist the teachers that are sitting at home to find better opportunities outside and these opportunities are negotiated by us in Government so that even when they retire the portability of their social security, their pensions will be transferred to this country.”
Zimbabwe shares excellent relations with Qatar and Angola with President Mnangagwa visiting Qatar in 2018 at the invitation of its Head of State, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamadi al-Thani where they signed cooperation agreements. Qatar Airways introduced flights between Doha and Harare last year, a sign of the cordial relations between the two countries.
Mr Masanga added that soon after the completion of the Rwandan recruitment the successful candidates would undergo training while a team of Government officials will go to Rwanda to assess the areas where the teachers would be deployed.
Meanwhile, Mr Maxwell Muguse, director for human resources (northern region) in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, told the committee that the ministry had over 14 000 vacant teaching posts with Government only approving the recruitment of 5 000 teachers this year.
He implored Parliament to urge Government to provide more resources to clear the backlog and ensure that vacancies, especially in remote areas are filled.
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