ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the ecological contexts, processes, and trajectory of New Public Management (NPM) in Zimbabwe. The emergence of modern public administration in Zimbabwe is linked with establishment of British colonial administration in 1890, and the subsequent creation of a nascent civil service, whose operations were guided by the "first civil service regulations in Southern Africa" of 1898. The trajectory of public management in Zimbabwe, as is generally the case in most African countries, should be situated within the context of the global shift from the interventionism to neo-liberal development, and management paradigm. Reform of the civil service was a core issue in the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) blueprint. The civil service, as the professional component of the government bureaucracy, serves as the administrative hub of every country. Performance management, as enforced through the ESAP blueprint, was adopted in 1994, motivated by the need to expose the professional bureaucracy to performance management training programmes.
