Brain drain to cripple civil service

week, most skilled workers were leaving not only because they were discontented with domestic economic and social conditions, but they were extremely pessimistic about the possibility of positive change within the next two years. Most of those interviewed said Zanu (PF)’s ploy to extend Mugabe’s mandate with another two years was “the final straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The exodus will mainly comprise technical staff such as software specialists, technicians, both mechanical and electrical engineers, doctors, nurses and apprentice journeymen.
Richard Makoni, a managing consultant with labour organisation Lorimark said Zimbabwe’s brain drain had quickened massively due to “inflation differentials that were too high.” He said there were “push factors such as the politics back home and the economic meltdown” and pull factors such as better pay and working conditions.
According to the survey, there were extremely high levels of dissatisfaction relating to economic matters such as the cost of living, taxation, availability of goods, and salaries as well as social issues including housing, medical services, education and a viable future for children.
The quickening pace of the brain drain is set to cripple the civil service, particularly parastatals such as Tel*One and ZESA, which are losing skilled technicians and engineers to New Zealand, Australia and lately Birmingham in the UK where demand for skilled technical staff is extremely high.
A senior manager at Tel*One said more than 80 percent of skilled staff had left over the past year alone and that about 15 technicians had tendered their resignation this month alone. He said most of them were “leaving for greener pastures.”
“It is possible to point to political events over the past month as the primary cause for emigration,” said the senior manager who declined to be named.
Sources spoke of an “unprecedented brain drain” at ZESA, whose workers had been on strike over the past week protesting for better salaries.
According to a 2006 UNDP report, out of Zimbabwe’s 14 million people, almost 3 million, mainly skilled staff, are living outside the country.