NOW, THEREFORE, be it enacted by the President and the Parliament of Zimbabwe as follows:— PART I P RELIMINARY 1 2 Short title This Act may be cited as the Public Service Act [Chapter 16:04]. Interpretation In this Act— “appropriate Minister”, in relation to— (a) a Ministry, department or other division of the Public Service, means the Minister responsible for that Ministry, department or division; (b) a member or former member of the Public Service or a person who is about to become a member of the Public Service, means the Minister responsible for the Ministry, department or other division of the Public Service in which the person is or was or is to be employed, as the case may be; “approved service” means— (a) the service of a government, statutory body, local authority or institution approved by the Minister, after consultation with the Commission, for the purposes of this Act; or (b) a uniformed force, or (c) the service of Parliament; “Commission” means the Public Service Commission constituted in terms of section 74 of the Constitution; “commissioner” means a member of the Commission, including the chairman; “head of Ministry”, in relation to a member of the Public Service, means the Secretary of the Ministry in which he is employed or the occupier of any other office or post which the Commission, with the concurrence of the appropriate Minister, directs shall constitute his head of Ministry; “Labour Court” means the Labour Court constituted in terms of the Labour Act [Chapter 28:01]; [Definition substituted by section 46 of Act 17 of 2002] “local authority” means a municipality, town, local board or rural district council or any similar body established by or in terms of any enactment; “member”, in relation to— (a) the Public Service, means a person employed in the Public Service, including a head of Ministry and a person employed under contract in terms of section twenty-one; (b) a statutory body, means a person who is appointed to a council, board or other authority which is the statutory body or which is responsible for the administration of the affairs of the statutory body;”. [Definition substituted by section 2 of Act 16 of 2001] “Minister” means the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare or any other Minister to whom the President may, from time to time, assign the administration of this Act; “pension benefit” means any pension, commutation of a pension, gratuity or other similar allowance or benefit or any refund of pension contributions, including any interest payable thereon, for a person in respect of his service as a commissioner or member of the Public Service or in respect of any ill-health or injury arising out of and in the course of his official duties as a commissioner or member of the Public Service or for a dependant or personal representative of such person in respect of such service, ill-health or injury or on the death of such person; “Public Service” means the Public Service referred to in subsection (1) of section 73 of the Constitution; “recognized association or organisation” means an association or organisation declared to be a recognized association or recognized organisation, as the case may be, in terms of subsection (1) of section twentyfour; “service commissioner” means a commissioner who, immediately before the date of his appointment to the Commission, was a member of the Public Service; “service regulations” means regulations made in terms of section thirty-one regulating conditions of service of members of the Public Service; “uniformed force” means the Police Force, any branch of the Defence Forces or the Prison Service. PART II P UBLIC S ERVICE C OMMISSION 3 Term of office of commissioners (1) Subject to this Part, a commissioner shall hold office for such period, not exceeding three years, as the President may fix on his appointment.