Categories: Stories

Mnangagwa promises leaner government but no tolerance for slothfulness

President Emmerson Mnangagwa today promised a keener government but told senior civil servants that he will not tolerate any bureaucratic slothfulness.

“Our prime focus should thus be on the implementation of practical solutions to grow our economy, create jobs and boost the incomes our people,” he said.

“My government will have no tolerance for bureaucratic slothfulness, which is quick to brandish procedures as excuse for stalling service delivery to citizens, investors and her stakeholders.

“Our mantra should be peak performance, peak performance and peak performance.”

Mnangagwa said he was in the process of putting together a new government structure, which should essentially be leaner.

“This will entail the merging of some line ministries in order to remove functional duplications as well as contain unnecessary expenditures, so as to enhance productivity and efficient delivery of service,” he said but added: “I want to assure you that no one will be laid off, except those who have reached retirement age. Those whose ministerial posts will be abolished will be re-skilled and reassigned to other areas in the Public Service.”

He said people expected change in the shortest time possible.

“Let us take advantage of the positive optimism among our people, ushered in by this current dispensation, and do our best,” he said.

“This huge weight of expectations from the populace should bid us all to shun the laissez-faire approach to our work, and instead, endeavour to adopt a high-performance work ethic.”

Full statement:

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Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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