Rent-seeking rampant in civil service

of the public seeking their services.
This applies to licences, birth certificates, passports, processing of pensions, customs clearing, recruitment of temporary teachers and many other such basic services.
Teachers have managed to get Government to legitimise payment of “incentives” to supplement the paltry remuneration from Treasury.
They have also introduced a system of extra lessons, which many parents and guardians believe is manipulated to ensure just about every pupil has to pay for this coaching.
Those in the medical field are reportedly spending their time at hospitals and clinics recruiting patients for treatment at their own or their colleagues’ private practices.
Some are reportedly stealing medical supplies and selling them at cheaper prices to the very same people who seek help at Government institutions. A doctor at Harare Central Hospital said some of them performed illegal abortions, which can cost up to US$1 000.
Customs and immigration officers are understood to be making brisk business at ports of entry. They allegedly charge extra for expedition of certain services and demand a small fortune to fraudulently clear imports.
The manner in which a member of the public is made to reach a point of opting to pay a bribe runs like a well-oiled machine.
A person seeking a service is tossed from office to office, sometimes for days and weeks, until someone “helpfully” whispers in their ears that “buying a drink” will make things much easier.
Police have also been accused of unethically and illegally benefiting from services that they are constitutionally supposed to proffer due to the low salaries they get.
“At the Vehicle Inspection Department, un-roadworthy public transporters are cleared after paying something,” alleged Laiton Manyere of Warren Park 1.
It is alleged that Central Vehicle Registry personnel are taking home between US$50 and US$100 a day in kickbacks from people seeking metal drivers’ licence discs.
In the midst of all this, little thought has been given to civil servants in rural areas – who cannot wheedle cash out of the public like their urban counterparts.
Teacher Mrs Chipo Gudhuza (not her real name) who works in Chivi said they were no longer motivated to work.
“The reason why we continue to work is because of our training. I cannot leave these helpless children alone. We keep getting promises of money but then the Finance Ministry tells us that there is nothing in its coffers and yet we hear that ministers have got a big pay rise.”
A male teacher at a rural school who was recently brought before a maintenance court said he could not pay what his ex-wife wanted because he received incentives in the form of maize and chickens.