At a Public Service Commission conference in Mutare, civil servants are told that financial planning without health is a fool’s errand.
by NORMA TSOPO
MUTARE played host to a retirement conference this week, organised by the Public Service Commission, where the message to Zimbabwe’s civil servants was unflinching – prepare for life after work long before the final pay cheque arrives.
Delaying that reckoning, speakers warned, invites not only poverty but also poor health—and both are costly to reverse.
Stephen Gwinyai Mutsongodza, an educationist recently named the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Manicaland Businessman of the Year for 2026, delivered the keynote challenge.
“Do not think of retirement when you are exhausted—start now, start small,” Mutsongodza told the audience.
His own career is a case study in incremental ambition.
He bought a dilapidated bus at auction, plied routes that others avoided, and eventually built a fleet.
That venture funded the First Class Group of Schools, which enrolls thousands of students and supports tens of students in tertiary institutions across the country including 10 medical students, two of whom have already graduated.
Yet solvency is only half the equation.
Dr Clayton Choga, a clinical family therapist and panelist at the conference, reminded attendees that retirement often ushers in depression, anxiety, hypertension and other chronic conditions.
His prescription was practical – regular exercise, a balanced diet and health insurance for those with pre-existing ailments.
“It is ideal that, when preparing for retirement, you treat your body as carefully as your savings,” Dr Choga said.
Andrew Muzondiwa Marisa, a human and institutional development expert who retired at 47 to build his own business empire, echoed the same theme.
“We must plan the life we want after retirement,” Marisa said, “but to enjoy that life, we must manage our health. We have to take care of ourselves.”
His early departure from the civil service was not an escape, he implied, but a calculated transition—one that required both capital and vigour.
The conference, convened by the Public Service Commission, points to a broader institutional blind spot. Zimbabwe’s public-sector workforce is ageing, yet financial literacy and wellness programmes remain sporadic at best.
The commission’s decision to host such an event is welcome, but a conference does not substitute for systemic policy—such as mandatory retirement planning workshops or subsidised health screenings.
For the civil servants in the room, the arithmetic is stark. A pension is not a windfall; it is the compounded result of decades of discipline.
And without the physical and mental health to enjoy it, that sum is merely a number on a page.
Mutare’s gathering made one thing clear: retirement is not a finish line. It is a second starting block—and one must be ready to run.
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