To prevent further COVID-19 infections and deaths, the Zimbabwean government has ordered that all civil servants be vaccinated immediately, and that unvaccinated personnel be barred from boarding employer-provided transportation.
Jonathan Wutawunashe, the Secretary of the Public Service Commission (PSC), announced the new procedures on Monday in circular number 20 of 2021, which was leaked to NewZimbabwe.com and sent to permanent secretaries.
“All civil servants are considered to be frontline workers as indicated by the health authorities. All heads of ministries are, therefore, directed to ensure that all civil servants under their jurisdiction are vaccinated. Only members with proof of vaccination against Covid-19 shall board PSC buses.”
Jonathan Wutawunashe, the Secretary of the Public Service Commission
Wutawunashe also ordered all ministries, except for Health and Child Care, to cut the number of employees reporting for work to 10% from the 40% previously set by PSC circular number 19.
All departments and agencies are to be bound by the directive.
Further, the PSC director ordered that line ministries should rotate workers so that no employee stays at home for longer than 21 days at a time. To stay effective and productive, those working from home should be given enough information communications technology (ICT) devices and data bundles.
Employees at workstations with a skeleton staff complement must be equipped with functional and substantial brand width to enable the holding of virtual meetings and other electronically-enabled communications, according to Wutawunashe.
Permanent secretaries, department heads, and agency heads will be summoned to explain why staffing levels exceeded the 10% standard. The attendance of employees at work will be closely monitored and enforced. Daily staff attendance records should continue to be reported to the PSC by 1300 hours, with any deviations supported by a detailed explanation.