Examining the Challenges of Implementing Merit-based Civil Servant Recruitment in Zimbabwe

Abstract

A civil service system is an integral part of all government systems to allow critical interface between the government and its citizens. Many studies on civil service systems have produced findings in the context of Western countries. In this study, we focus on Zimbabwe, a developing country in southern Africa, to examine the reasons why merit-based civil service recruitment is not properly implemented in Zimbabwe. Through in-depth interviews with ten Zimbabwean public managers, we find that the civil servant recruitment process in Zimbabwe is not entirely based on merit. The three main challenges identified by the study were bureaucratic power, political interference, and budget constraints due to economic crisis. These reasons are related to the features of prismatic societies where traditional and modernized values and cultural patterns coexist. Based on the results, we argue that developing countries in prismatic societies need to intentionally initiate civil service reforms—including civil servant recruitment processes—to transform the administration in a modernized way.