Online Reporter
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Zimpapers Writer
CIVIL servants have been urged to embrace a renewed culture of collaboration and transformation in their workplaces and abandon the silo mentality that has long hindered efficient public service delivery.
The call was made by Public Service Commission Secretary, Mrs Sibusisiwe Zembe, while officially opening a two-week culture change transformation train-the-trainer programme at Elangeni Training Institute in Bulawayo on Tuesday.
The programme is being attended by selected change agents drawn from various ministries, Government departments and agencies.
Mrs Zembe said the training is a key component in driving the implementation of Vision 2030 and the recently launched National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2).
“Vision 2030 and NDS2 are not just documents; they are a blueprint for national metamorphosis and change. We are changing as we move towards Vision 2030, but there are certain steps that we must go through to reach that destination, and the programme we are gathered here for is part of that change process,” she said.
Mrs Zembe said achieving the national vision requires more than policy reviews or new systems. What is needed, she emphasised, is a transformation at the core of how the public service operates — beginning with work culture.
“Let us be clear about what we are confronting here: culture is not an abstract concept but an invisible yet definitive architecture of every ministry, department and agency. It is that unwritten code that determines whether we embrace innovation or cling to routine — the way we were doing things before — whether we collaborate across silos or protect our turf,” she said.
Mrs Zembe said it was time for public servants to move away from working in isolation and instead adopt the Second Republic’s whole-of-Government approach. She urged workers to see themselves not merely as representatives of specific departments, but as contributors to a shared national vision.
Mrs Zembe stressed that citizens must be placed at the centre of all Government operations.
“The current architecture, in too many instances, is designed for a different era. We must now deliberately and collectively build a new one. We must move from a culture of compliance to a culture of ownership and excellence,” she said.
Mrs Zembe told delegates that transformation should not be reduced to ticking boxes or proving procedural compliance. Instead, public servants must internalise the changes, own them and drive them.
She said the public service must shift from siloed operations to integrated, citizen-centric service delivery, ensuring all ministries and agencies work as one cohesive unit.
“This ToT model is our engine for scalable and sustainable change, institutionalised within the Zimbabwean context. We are not simply capacitating or transferring knowledge to you. We are equipping you to become master builders who will lead, teach, mentor and inspire this transformation within your respective MDAs,” she said.
derick.khumalo