Online Reporter
Walter Nyamukondiwa
Mashonaland West Bureau Chief
PUBLIC servants should embrace innovation, digitalisation and excellence to accelerate Zimbabwe’s socio-economic transformation and attainment of Vision 2030 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 goals, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Deputy Minister Mercy Dinha has said.
Dep Minister Dinha said public servants were the driving force behind the country’s transformation.
Speaking during the national commemorations of Africa Public Service Day at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT Gym Hall) on Tuesday, Dep Minister Dinha hailed public servants as the backbone of national development and challenged them to continuously reinvent themselves to meet emerging demands in service delivery.
“We gather not simply to mark a date on the calendar, but to celebrate you – the public servant, the unsung engine of our nation’s progress,” she said.
“Public servants are the drivers of our economy and the architects of our national development.”
The commemorations were held under the national theme, “Enhancing Public Sector Institutions and Empowering Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships to Achieve Universal Water Availability and Safe Sanitation by 2063,” in line with the African union theme focusing on sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems.
She said access to clean and safe water remained a fundamental human right and a critical enabler of health, agriculture, industry and economic growth.
The Government, said Dep Minister Dinha, had already made strides through major water infrastructure projects, including dam construction across all provinces and the Presidential Borehole Drilling Scheme.
“The Presidential Borehole Drilling Scheme is an inclusive initiative delivering clean water, boosting agriculture and enhancing livelihoods. This is our living mantra: leaving no one and no place behind,” she said.
The Second Republic has pursued a coordinated and integrated approach to water, sanitation and hygiene through the National Action Committee, covering marginalised rural communities.
She said the Government was reforming the public sector to ensure that the country remained competitive in an increasingly globalised world.
“If we are to develop as Zimbabwe and compete effectively in the global village, we must continuously redefine our public service — from reactive to proactive, from bureaucratic to people-centred, from conservative to innovative,” she said.
“It can no longer be business as usual.”
She called for the adoption of e-governance systems, data-driven decision-making and smart technologies to improve service delivery.
Government reaffirmed its commitment to improving conditions of service for public servants through both monetary and non-monetary incentives, career development opportunities and safer working environments.
“A motivated public servant is a productive public servant. And a productive public service is the backbone of an empowered, prosperous, upper-middle-income society by 2030,” she said.
She urged public servants to remain proactive, people-centred and innovative in delivering services, saying a healthy nation supported by adequate water and sanitation infrastructure was essential for sustainable socio-economic development.
“Be proud of your uniform, your badge, your office and your duty. You are the face of Zimbabwe’s promise,” he said.
Secretary for Presidential Affairs and Devolution in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Engineer Tafadzwa Muguti, gave a public lecture on Devolution and Water and Sanitation Health (WASH).
He said public servants should work hard to address challenges in communities.
Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Marian Chombo, in remarks delivered by permanent secretary Mr Josphat Jaji, said it was important to celebrate public servants as they helped to bring services to the people.
Minister Chombo said the province was a befitting host as the theme, which seeks to ensure availability of water and sanitation, resonated with its vast network of water bodies, including Lake Kariba, Chivero, Sanyati, Angwa and Manyame Rivers.
The president of the Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (ZCPSTU), Ms Cecilia Alexandra and Public Service Commission deputy chairperson Dr Nomathemba Ndiweni and commissioners attended the event.
