Editorial Comment: Thoughts as CSC takes on new role

The transformation under the new Constitution of the old Public Service Commission to the Civil Service Commission has turned what was already an independent organisation into one that is super-independent, having total control over the hiring, firing disciplining and conditions of service of the civil service.

But there will some teething pains until the new CSC has the resources it requires.
The old PSC allowed heads of ministries, the apolitical permanent secretaries rather than the political appointments, the ministers, to recruit staff.

This was a delegated function, but there were always niggling complaints over how it was done. Some ministries, or units in ministries, did it well.
In other cases there were suspicions that the best qualified candidates, qualified in terms of both experience and certificates, were not always hired.

It was difficult to substantiate or even investigate these complaints, since only qualified staff were hired. The question was not whether the desired candidate was qualified but whether they were the best qualified.

So when the people spoke on their new Constitution, and the drafters turned these views into law, there was widespread agreement that all civil service human resources functions, including recruitment, should be done by the CSC.

The old PSC delegated recruitment for two reasons, one bad and one good. The bad reason was that the PSC was underfunded, undermanned and generally unable to cope unless it did delegate.

The good reason was that a good permanent secretary, or a recruitment committee from his ministry, had a very good idea of just the sort of person they needed, in terms of formal qualifications, experience and simple ability.

And it made sense that such people had at least a say in the recruitment, since after all they would be judged on how well their subordinates work.
So one thing that has to be done immediately is to make sure that the CSC is adequately funded and manned to perform its new roles. The bad reason for delegation is now unconstitutional.

But at the same time the CSC does have to build systems that allow input from ministries.
The good needs to be kept.

For many posts, especially senior posts, the interview panel needs to include representatives of both the CSC and the ministry concerned. The final decision is legally that of the CSC. But the people living with that decision will be the ministry concerned.

This is the system usually used in large corporates. When assembling an interview panel most corporates will include the boss of the unit where the candidate will work.

He or she has a voice, if not the final say. And as we move down the line — temporary teachers in Binga, sweepers in Chiredzi — we cannot see how the CSC, even if well funded, is going to be able to cope alone.

Again interviews will need CSC input, and this raises the need for the CSC to decentralise staff. Every district looks as though it will need at least one CSC officer in residence.

The CSC has taken on a huge task. To take one major example, almost 75 percent of the civil servants are teachers. They form easily the largest group in State employment, civil or uniformed, and rough estimates suggest that one in two people paid by the State are teachers.

For all practical purposes, the delegation of recruitment to heads of ministries was further decentralised in the Education Ministry as a result.
Regional directors and even heads of schools had a lot of say over hiring, although the formal recruitment was done in the head office.

Now the CSC has to figure out, quickly, how to retain control practically as well as theoretically, but still allow those who will work with new staff have a real say in what sort of person is needed, and in at least being able to state which candidate they think is the best and the second best.
We believe this is possible.

But it must be thought through.