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Mukudzei Chingwere Herald Reporter
Chief directors and directors of Government ministries have signed performance contracts as part of the Second Republic’s policy thrust to ensure senior officials are accountable and can perform within expectations of their mandate.

Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda and chairman of the Public Service Commission Dr Vincent Hungwe witnessed the signing ceremony in Harare today.

Ministers, permanent secretaries, heads of local authorities, State-owned enterprises and State universities have already signed theirs.

“Performance contracting, therefore, becomes one of the strategic interventions of re-invigorating and re-inventing the public sector to aggressively manage for sustainable development results,” said Dr Sibanda during the ceremony.

“The institutionalization of a culture of high performance in Government, underpinned by performance contracts among other mechanisms is predicated on the policy pronouncements made by H.E. the President, Dr E. D. Mnangagwa, on the need to have a public sector that is manned by hardworking and committed by competent, cadres, who pride themselves in delivery of quality and timely services.”

Dr Sibanda said the implementation of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1): 2021-2025 is more than before, demanding public sector innovation, high performance; and above imbued with an appetite for the achievement of impactful results.

He said it is therefore the responsibility of senior Government officials, and no one else establishes that hallmark performance.

Dr Hungwe said we cannot do things the same way we have done them before and expect new results.

“To get new results, the way things are done has to change. The new work culture which the performance contracts being signed today seek to define must be embraced in word and deed by all of us.

“A distinction between performance and non-performance that is as normative in its force as our moral recognition of right and wrong must be made at the beginning, in the middle of and at the conclusion of each and every working day by each and every one of us, and our eyes must be denied the luxury of sleep on any day we know we have not done our very best.”