06 Jul 2014

Parliament has deferred a motion by Gaborone Central Member of Parliament Mr Dumelang Saleshando requesting the House to urgently amend Police Special Constables regulations. 


The MP had requested Parliament to resolve that the Police Special Constables Regulations be urgently amended to provide for paid maternity leave for officers who have been re-appointed to serve beyond the initial six months of the first contract.


The decision came after Tswapong North MP Mr Prince Maele moved without notice that the debate be adjourned and the mover defer the motion to a later date pending the commitment made by the minister to table the amended regulations before Parliament dissolves next month.


Minister of Defence, Justice and Security Mr Dikgakgamatso Seretse had risen after the motion was presented to Parliament and assured the House that they were still to circulate a Cabinet memo and would like to table regulation as there was commitment on their part due to the work that the Special constables were doing.


The minister told Parliament that they were still looking at the entire conditions of service for Special Constables not only the clause that the mover presented to Parliament. 
“We are looking at 30 clauses that will amend special constable’s regulations. We will make changes depending on what comes out of those discussions,” he added.


However, a seemingly disappointed Gaborone Central legislator told the House that the issue has been in the Order Paper for some time and it was on account of the past understanding between him and the minister that everything was at an advanced stage.

“It is now been a full 12 months since the question was asked. It appears to me even if something is done there is certainly no urgency which was one of the critical components of the motion or the operative word in the motion,” he said.


Mr Saleshando said the right to paid maternity leave was recognised worldwide. He said it was an anomaly to have anyone on the public payroll being subjected to no paid maternity leave. “It is a noble life-giving experience- a natural act of giving a new life,” he explained.


He said the motion came as a result of a Parliament question last year when he asked the minster to state the policy regarding maternity leave and feeding hours for Special Constables.

 The response he was given was that where a Special Constable fell pregnant she was allowed to proceed on unpaid leave for 84 days, ideally being 42 days before delivery and 42 days after delivery. When they returned to duty they were given an hour as a feeding period for 12 months. Mr Saleshando evoked Standing Order 54.2 and deferred the matter to a later date. ENDS