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Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter

Parliament has applauded Treasury for reviewing conditions of service for civil servants saying the measure would go a long way in averting skills haemorrhage.

In an interview, Budget and Finance portfolio committee chairperson, Dr Mathew Nyashanu said it was critical to constantly review salaries for civil servants in line with prevailing economic trends.

“These measures have come at the rightful time particularly in the health profession where our country had become a training ground for nurses and doctors. We should continue reviewing these conditions to avert critical skills haemorrhage in our Public Service,” said Dr Nyashanu who is also Buhera Central MP (Zanu PF).

“While I applaud these various measures to cushion Civil Servants, I feel the measures must be supported by performance targets. We need to find ways of making our Public Service efficient and therefore I propose that proper performance management systems be established across all government institutions.”

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Dr Tinashe Manzungu commended the Government for the way it has handled the salary adjustments for civil servants.

Dr Manzungu said it is a delicate process where you need to improve the conditions of service for workers but at the same time not crippling industries.

He said too high salaries which are not backed by revenue inflows risk scaring away investment from the country by making labour a huge cost centre and unsustainable.

“Across the globe Governments give guidance on the salaries structure and businesses use the figures pegged by the Government as a yardstick. But what we are saying is that we cannot afford to pay unsustainable high salaries which will increase cost of production,” he said.

“Salaries are a recurrent expenditure and must be sustainable to keep businesses viable. If the cost of production is high, then local businesses cannot compete on the international market. But at the same time we are not saying labour must be for free neither are we saying we should pay slave wages, salaries must cater for a decent life but, they must be sustainable for the employer as well,” said Dr Manzungu.