The Zimbabwe government, keen to stem the flight of professionals from the economically-ravaged country, will force some graduates to work in government service, it was reported on Sunday.
Many professionals will be bonded to government institutions after they graduate in a bid to stop them leaving for better-paid jobs outside Zimbabwe, the state-controlled Sunday Mail reported.
”The government will soon compel professionals trained using state resources in universities, polytechnics and colleges to work in the civil service for some time before they can be allowed to join the private sector or legally work in other countries,” the paper said.
Likely to be affected are workers in the health sector, lawyers, engineers and technicians, where labour shortages are highest.
Washington Mbizvo, an official in the country’s ministry of higher education, said the recommendations have been forwarded to President Robert Mugabe, the Sunday Mail reported.
”The whole exercise involved nine ministries which came up with the recommendations and the document has already been submitted to the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet,” he said.
So many doctors have left Zimbabwe in recent years that now one doctor has to do the work of seven, the local Daily Mirror recently reported.
Zimbabwe has had to resort to hiring expatriate doctors from Cuba and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The once-prosperous southern African country has been in the grip of a severe economic crisis for the past five years. – Sapa-dpa