The Zimbabwean government is reportedly set to fire thousands of civil servants as it seeks to reduce its wage bill. According to New Zimbabwe.com, President Robert Mugabe’s administration agreed to lay off thousands of civil servants to reduce its wage bill from 83% to about 40% of state annual expenditure. “…There are rumours that they want to force everyone aged 55 years and above to retire,” a senior official was quoted as saying. The state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper reported that “idle” workers were largely responsible for government’s bloated wage bill. The report quoted the 2015 civil service audit report as saying: “Many civil servants lack job description and are hardly contributing to public administration…” The audit report revealed that some of the civil servants had become “redundant” and others duplicated duties.
