Top civil servant Mhishi dies
By Tafadzwa Ndlovu
HARARE – Acting principal director in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Mr Sydney Gozho Mhishi has died. He was 59. Mr Mhishi succumbed to a chest infection at the Avenues Clinic in Harare on Saturday.
Acting Secretary for Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Ms Memory Mukondomi said the ministry was saddened by the death of one of the long-serving civil servants.
“We have lost a dedicated and loyal civil servant who had vast knowledge of policy issues, hence we have been robbed of a mentor and leader,” she said.
“His ability to critique objectively, especially on issues of national social protection, will be greatly missed. His composure and diligence in dealing with co-operating partners will be a loss to the nation at large. He was full of gentleness, dependable, hard working, committed, calm and respectful. We learnt of his death with great sorrow and shock.”
Mr Mhishi was born on September 11, 1956 in Hurungwe, Mashonaland West.
He attended Ibadan University in Nigeria where he graduated in 1980 with a BSc (Hons) Geography and later graduated with a Masters Degree in Policy Studies from the Southern African Regional Institute for Policy Studies.
He joined the then Public Service Commission in 1981 and worked as an Assistant Research Officer in the Department of Manpower Planning and Development before joining the University of Zimbabwe as a Research Fellow in 1982.
In 1983, he joined the Ministry of Lands Resettlement and Rural Development as a Planning Officer until in 1984 when he was promoted to the post of Senior Planning Officer.
In 1986, he became a Senior Research Officer at the Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies and later joined the City of Harare as a Research Planner in 1987.
In 1989, Mr Mhishi rejoined the Public Service Commission as a Chief Planning Officer in the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development and was promoted to the post of Assistant Director (Operations) in 1991.
In March 1993, Mr Mhishi was transferred on promotion to the post of Deputy Secretary responsible for Social Dimensions for Adjustment in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.
He was responsible for the National Co-ordination of the Social Dimension of Adjustment Programme which entailed formulation and co-ordinating the implementation of Social Safety Nets to cushion vulnerable population groups against the adverse effects of economic and social reforms brought by the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme.
In 2003, Mr Mhishi took over as the Director Social Services.
He was a member of the Africa Group working on the Africa position regarding the transition from the Millennium Development Goals towards the anticipated Sustainable Development Goals and Post 2015 Agenda.
Mr Mhishi will be buried today at Glen Forest Memorial Park at noon. He is survived by his wife and three children. The Herald
