The Financial Gazette

Editor — Thank God, I finally got my passport. I got it a couple of months back after a very long struggle with the bureaucracy, inefficiency and extortion by the very institution that is supposed to be safeguarding my rights - the government of Zimbabwe.

My passport application saga is a long story that I will tell on another day. I only got my passport after the government had twice extorted money from me.
I am not talking about bribes but money paid for “fast track” processing of my passport for which I have official government receipts. The “fast track” process was promised to be four weeks but turned out to be all of a year, from December 17, 2008 to December 23, 2009. The former is the date I first submitted my application and the latter being the date I finally laid my hands on my new passport.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not blaming ineffectual service by the officials at the Registrar-General’s office. The service and attention I got from the rank and file officials was excellent. They were forever friendly, polite and gave me accurate information, within humanely possible bounds.
On many occasions they were reduced to telling me the truth point blank, “VaPunungwe we don't really know what's going on.” They were impeccably professional. I could mention any number of names at Registrar-General's office and Zimbabwe Consulate in Johannesburg who offered me the best, and the most friendly of service.
I am not going to call upon these foot soldiers to become magicians who produce things of substance out of thin air. They did their best in the face of rapacious inefficiency in the top management of the government itself.
The foot soldiers of Zimbabwe's civil service couldn't have produced my passport without adequate resources. They are not to blame for the lack of resources. That I ended up parting with enough money to physically produce five passports in one week only to get one passport in one year is again not their fault. No, I can't blame them for resources being diverted to line the pockets of senior officials. I feel sorry for the foot soldiers of Zimbabwe's civil service. They do all the donkeywork while those responsible for the mismanagement get all the comfort.
Take for example the current impasse over salaries. The government of Zimbabwe is claiming that it can only afford to pay US$137 per month. We don't have resources, Minister Mukonoweshuro declared.
If the government doesn't have enough resources, why do we have such a top-heavy executive? Why do we have so many ministers most of whom are doing nothing except going on foreign trips? Why do we have so many people appointed simply for the purpose of giving them seats on the gravy train?
Zimbabweans are very fortitudinous people. They can sacrifice when necessary. In the 1970s they had absolutely no problem putting their lives on the line for absolutely no reward except desired freedom.
However, that doesn't give anyone a right to take them for granted.
The government of national unity is taking civil servants for granted.

Jupiter Punungwe