Ghost workers and chipoko hachiverengeke

Deputy Public Service Minister Tapiwa Matangaidze said the government audit for civil servants had established that there were slightly more than 188 000 civil servants and only 3 500 could not be accounted for.

But his figures were very difficult to reconcile as he said the physical count showed that there only 157 000 on the job.

“From that Audit Report, the staff complement of the Public Service is slightly over 188 000. Of that people who were physically on the job were about 157 000. There is a figure of 160 000 that should, on paper, be accounted for ….,” he told Parliament.

“Yes, the missing figure, the number that could not tally is a figure slightly over 3 500. Yes, some of those people were not on their posts but have since come forward with proof that for genuine reasons, they were absent from their posts when the audit was carried out. So, that verification exercise is ongoing as we speak right now.”

A previous audit whose results were never made public put the number of ghost workers at about 75 000.

The civil service wage bill currently consumes more than 80 percent of government expenditure.

Q & A:

HON. MUZONDIWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Public Services, Labour and Social Services. Minister, may I know the outcome of the staff audit which was carried out in different Government Departments? May I also know if there were any ghost workers found. Thank you – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL SERVICES (HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Yes, the Audit Report has been finalised. From that Audit Report, the staff complement of the Public Service is slightly over 188 000. Of that people who were physically on the job were about 157 000. There is a figure of 160 000 that should, on paper, be accounted for – [AN HON. MEMBER: Aaah.] – Yes, the missing figure, the number that could not tally is a figure slightly over 3 500. Yes, some of those people were not on their posts but have since come forward with proof that for genuine reasons, they were absent from their posts when the audit was carried out. So, that verification exercise is ongoing as we speak right now. I thank you.

HON. SARUWAKA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. My supplementary question is that we have seen a lot of effort being put towards the education sector but we are all aware that the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment is probably hundred percent occupied by ghosts or people who do not have the qualifications – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – So, I wanted to find out when his Ministry is going to do the verification specifically for the Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment and those in the security service sector. You can see that even here at Parliament, I think there are more security personnel than the clerks, so when are they going to go into the security service sector and the Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment? Thank you.

THE HON. SPEAKER: I have difficulties with that question about ghost workers; perhaps the Hon. Minister can address the question of ghost workers.

HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I think I went at length to give the finer details of the employees and people who were not found on their work stations. I gave that figure as just slightly over 3 500, if my memory serves me right. So, the ghost workers that the Hon. Member is alluding to, they are certainly not in the Report we are talking about. That Report, I can tell you was extremely detailed.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Is the Hon. Minister saying the ghost workers could not be counted because they are ghosts, chipoko hachiverengeke.

HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE: The point I raised was that 157 000 of the Public Service was accounted for. The only number that was not accounted for was slightly over 3 500 – [AN HON. MEMBER: What about 180 000.] – 180 000 those are the posts. My point is, it is only 3 500 that could not be accounted for and the bulk of whom were in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. I thank you.

Hon. Saruwaka having stood up to pose a supplementary question.

THE HON. SPEAKER: That is sufficient; I am not entertaining any further supplementary questions.

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