GOVERNMENT is aware of the challenges currently being faced by public (civil) servants and remains committed to social dialogue with worker representatives through the National Joint Negotiating Council platform.
Speaking at the Africa Public Service Day commemorations last Sunday, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Dr July Moyo hailed public servants for their contribution to national and continental development.
He said this dovetails with Government’s vision of attaining a prosperous and empowered upper middle income society by 2030 and fulfilment of Agenda 2063 – the Africa we want.
The Africa Public Service Day national commemorations were part of Zimbabwe’s fulfilment of the declaration by the Pan African Ministers of Public Service and Administration made at the Pan African Conference of Public Service Ministers in Tangier in Morocco in 1994 where it was resolved that June 23 of each year be set aside to commemorate public servants for their dedication, resilience and commitment to service delivery.
Public servants are key the drivers of African economies.
“Government acknowledges the challenges currently being faced by the public servants, but remains committed to social dialogue with the staff associations through the National Joint Negotiating Council platform. To cushion our employees, Government is awarding monetary and non-monetary incentives which include rebate on vehicle importation, subsidised transport for civil servants. We hope to do more in improving the salaries and other conditions of service for the public servants. However, we encourage you to be patient with Government as we discuss a way forward with the workers’ representatives in this regard,” he said.
Minister Moyo implored public servants to be tech-savvy when discharging their duties as this will keep them abreast with current global trends.
“I am aware that the Public Service Commission through the Public Service Academy is running refresher courses and reorientation training programmes to produce fit for purpose public servants with capacities to deliver efficiently. To all public servants, I implore you to adopt the use of ICTs as we discharge our duties. This will keep us abreast with current global trends as we thrive to build our nation “brick upon brick” as our President says. I call upon you to use ICTs responsibly for it can be a source of our own downfall, particularly when using social media irresponsibly in our daily work. We need to change the conservative mind-sets of the ways we carry ourselves.
“It should no longer be business as usual if Zimbabwe is to prosper and move along as well as compete in the global village. The major question is how we are going to achieve this. For us to adapt to the dynamic world of work and serve as good public servants, we need to underscore the need for a transformative education system in all our learning institutions. There is also a need for a well-educated and dynamically skilled public servant who should continuously learn and adopt new technologies,” said Minister Moyo.
This year’s commemorations were held under the theme: “Empowering a citizen centric public service for an inclusive and thriving 21st Century Africa; A journey of lifelong learning and technological transformation’’.
Addressing public servants, who included lecturers, teachers as well as students among others at a public lecture held at Mutare Polytechnic, deputy chairperson of the Public Service Commission, Dr Nomathemba Ndiweni said they have established a robust innovation and technology programme that caters for development of digital skills, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.
“We must cultivate a culture of continuous learning and thought leadership if we are to achieve our vision of a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income society by 2030. In the fast pace of today’s knowledge economy, it is imperative for organisations to continuously build a culture of lifelong learning as a core component in employee development. The idea is that employees should engage in constant personal learning in order to be adaptable and flexible for the organisation to stay competitive and relevant.
“We are leveraging ICT to improve our services and promote digital Government services. We have established a robust innovation and technology programme that includes the development of digital skills, artificial intelligence, and data analytics. For example, we have developed an online platform for citizens to access Government services, and we are exploring the use of block chain technology to improve transparency and accountability in our operations,” she said.