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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
CABINET ministers and heads of public entities will this year sign performance contracts as the Second Republic fosters a high-performance culture among office bearers to enhance accountability and good governance.

Results of the performance of public officials will be made public.

Government introduced performance-based contracts last year and all permanent secretaries were the first to sign the contracts.

Ministers and other top officials including vice-chancellors of State universities are expected to sign the contracts next week on Thursday.

The performances of permanent secretaries who signed the contracts last year will also be announced with clear indications of those who exceeded their targets and those who did not.

In a statement, Government yesterday said Cabinet ministers and executives of public entities are expected to be accountable to tax payers.

Public officials are expected to drive President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030 of transforming the country into an upper middle income by 2030.

“Now, here’s where it gets exciting for 2022: To foster a high-performance culture across the entire public sector, the Government of Zimbabwe this year, has introduced performance contracts under the results-based management system, continuing with all permanent secretaries but adding all Cabinet ministers, all chief executive officers (CEOs) of local authorities, all CEO of State-owned enterprises and vice chancellors of universities,” read the statement.

Government said the performances of the executives will be reviewed annually and the results made public.

It said the contracts will push ministers and CEOs to fulfill President Mnangagwa’s promises he made when he came to power.

“You and I are taxpayers. It is in our interests to know exactly where our taxes are going towards the development of our country.

Civil servants are there to serve us and deliver on the promises made by His Excellency President Dr E.D Mnangagwa when he came into power, committing to making Zimbabwe a prosperous and empowered upper-middle income society by 2030.

Guided by the Nation’s Blueprint, National Development Strategy 1, here’s how this will happen under our watch: The Government of Zimbabwe has introduced performance contracts,” reads the statement.

Public policy expert and former Cabinet minister Dr Gorden Moyo backed the Government’s new management system.

He said due to performance contracts, countries such as Rwanda have a fast growing economy

“The performance contract between the principal and his managers and in this case the President and his managers is very commendable.

It is important that ministers sign these contracts with clear and specific objectives to be achieved by the ministers. Being appointed by the President, it means that they have to account to him,” said Dr Moyo.

“We have seen this system work particularly in Rwanda where the president has direct access to each of the ministries and ministers.

That is why we see a lot of development in Rwanda because ministers are supervised. They report and there are specific guidelines set for them.

Whoever fails to perform is fired on the basis of failing to perform and failure to achieve agreed objectives as opposed to firing the person on political grounds which is what is the case generally in Africa.”

He said to back up the contracts there should be budgetary allocations to enable public officials to perform without excuses

“Without budget it will be just a mere talk. It will be a good narrative, we will enjoy talking about it, publicise it but those people will always underperform in protest. So budget is important and supervision is also important,” he said.

Local political analyst Mr Teddy Ncube said the development shows that Government was raising the bar high on accountability purposes and it follows world standards of good governance.

“Performance-based management is a recommendation by the United Nations, by Sadc and by everyone who is serious about good governance.

This firstly is an indicator that the new dispensation is committed to good governance. But moreso this about the people who are at the receiving end.

The President is saying the people who are supposed to benefit from the public policy are benefitting,” said Mr Ncube.

He said there is a need to look at broader context as this doesn’t really target ministers but the whole governance systems.

Mr Ncube said the management system is results oriented and speaks to President Mnangagwa’s commitment to deliver on electoral promises and transforming the country.

“The President is saying we need to make decisions based on results. Government is committed to producing results and when he came to power, he introduced the 100-day cycle and it was meant to bring out results on what Government was doing,” he said.

“The President is saying for what you are paid for, you must produce results.

We are saying Government officials must produce results. It is a move in the right direction because it is compliant with international standards of governance.

And when you talk about governance, you are talking about performance and it will be easy to identify gaps, opportunities and strengths and will improve Zimbabwe’s governance architecture.” – @nqotshili