Home Affairs ministry permanent secretary Melusi Matshiya

The government could soon retrench thousands of soldiers and police officers, as authorities embark on a staff audit of the security sector as part of efforts to reduce the civil service’s unsustainable wage bill. Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa told Parliament on Wednesday the rationalisation exercise was now being extended to the army barracks and police stations to ascertain their numbers. “We took a decision at Cabinet to do the audit and I think the only…