Civil service retrenchments on the cards

Government will soon embark on a massive restructuring of the civil service that will include downsizing ministries and departments as well as sending people on forced unpaid leave as it seeks to reduce its astronomically high wage bill.

President Robert Mugabe's administration will first act on recently completed staff audit that unearthed thousands of ghost workers, before instituting other stringent measures such as retiring over aged workers and not filling up vacant positions to ease fiscal pressures.

Meanwhile, the government has ordered parastatals to cut down on employees, taking advantage of the recent Supreme Court ruling giving employers the green light to terminate contracts on three months' notice.

According to reports, 18 000 workers have been fired in less than three weeks after the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court last month in a case between Zuva Petroleum and its former managers President Robert Mugabe has criticized the job carnage and recently described the labour law as an ass.

But the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), a government body, says it received a government directive to cut down on its employees using the same law that has seen workers being thrown out without any benefits.

ZTA chief executive Karikoga Kaseke on Tuesday said that Cabinet had given them the green light to trim their workforce.