We could not fill vacant posts due to COVID-19, says Mavima
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Paul Mavima has blamed the effects of COVID-19 for the failure by the government to fill various vacant posts.
It is believed that there are many senior vacant posts in the civil service due to brain drain and deaths among other things.
This has seen various government institutions being headed by acting heads.
Analysts have blamed the poor quality of service on the unavailability of substantive heads in government departments.
This prompted Shamva South legislator Bramwell Bushu to seek answers on the matter.
However, in his response, the labour minister blamed the COVID-19 global pandemic for the situation.
He however added that some of the posts have started being filled since the relaxation of the lockdown.
‘’I am assuming that the Honourable Member is saying that there are quite a number of positions where people act for too long, maybe acting director or acting chief director and the like.
‘’From 2020 into 2021, we have been affected by COVID-19 in terms of filling those positions, but we have seen quite a number of positions being filled since the relaxation of the COVID-19 protocols.
‘’We would like to hasten to say, that process of filling those positions affects performance of the specific positions because people who act may not have the confidence and authority to act as they should.
‘’I am glad that we have seen quite a movement in terms of filling those positions, but we need to hasten the pace,’’ he said.
COVID-19 which was first recorded in Zimbabwe in March of 2020 claimed many lives and infected many people across the country.
In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, the government imposed various levels of lockdowns.
The lockdowns ranged from total lockdowns where all non-essential service providers had to close shop at stay home including some government departments.
We could not fill vacant posts due to COVID-19, says Mavima
