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The most affected sectors include health, education, agriculture, Home Affairs’ Registrar General’s office and the Attorney General’s office.
More than 8 000 vacancies cannot be filled in the health sector, while the education sector has more than 10 000 vacant posts.
The AG’s office has 175 vacant posts as a result of the freeze in recruitment, leaving it relying on seconded policemen. There are hundreds of vacant posts in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development and the situation is the same at the RG’s office.
Due to poor records management, many Government departments reportedly do not have accurate figures of their employees.
Minister Tendai Biti has announced a general freeze of all vacant posts in the civil service as a way of controlling the salary bill.
Health Services Board executive director, Mrs Ruth Kaseke, last week said Government only opened up 1 000 posts last year out of the 8 000.
“We have not received any good news since last year except the 168 doctors and 10 dentists who are on internship that they allowed us to employ.
“This is insignificant and has a negative impact on service delivery. With such few posts opened up we may end up deploying one person in a district.
“The demand from hospitals and clinics is high but the number of health professionals has not increased. We are quite compromised in terms of what we can do,” she said.
She said health professionals in the field were “burning out” as a result of understaffing.
“They work extra hard and some of the long queues experienced at public health institutions and the snail speed can be a result of this,” she said.
Zimbabwe has 48 percent less doctors than should be stationed at State facilities. Mrs Kaseke said recent graduates could not be deployed without approval from the Finance Ministry even if there is dire need for a post to be filled.
“The available staff complement cannot match the work load and new clinics especially in resettlement areas,” she said.
Thousands of qualified teachers have applied to fill in vacant posts in the teaching profession but the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture can not absorb them because of the freeze.
According to Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Deputy Minister Lazarus Dokora, the development is affecting the child-teacher ratio.
“The general freeze is counter-productive,” he said.
“Yes when you employ them you have to pay them but the issue of smooth service delivery is vital for any nation. The situation in schools is gloomy and teachers are applying to fill in the vacant posts but we cannot do anything.”
He said the number of pupils and schools was increasing and it should be matched by an increased number of educators.
“We are now working with large classes and this should tally with the teachers. It is difficult but it becomes more difficult when those holding the purse tell you not to recruit at a time children are suffering,” he said.
The Attorney-General’s Office has 175 vacant posts countrywide and AG Mr Johannes Tomana said some cases were taking long to complete because the courts were understaffed.
He said in some cases policemen were doing prosecutorial duties at the magistrates’ courts. The shortage is reportedly more acute in small towns where most offices are manned by ZRP members.
Mr Tomana blamed Finance Minister Biti for the shortages adding that he was compromising the justice delivery system.
He said: “We have a very serious shortage of qualified prosecutors at the moment in all provinces and at the moment we have 175 vacant posts for prosecutors but we have not been able to fill them because of a freeze in recruitment. We have not even been able to replace even those vacancies created as a result of deaths or resignations because of the freeze and this affects the speedy resolution of cases that will be pending at the courts,” he said.
An official from the RG’s offices said: “We have also been hit by the general freeze and sometimes we delay our processes because we are understaffed. There is nothing we can do because Treasury determines but service delivery should not be compromised.”
Agriculture extension officers are experiencing the same situation with graduates from colleges such as Gwebi and Chibhero failing to get employment because of the freeze.
Online Reporter