12 Mar 2015

Employees of the Ministry of Agriculture in the North East District say they must be paid overtime because their work requires them to work beyond stipulated hours.

The employees raised the concern during a staff meeting addressed by the acting Minister of Agriculture,  Mr Patrick Ralotsia. Mr Silver Mpongwana, one of the staff members, said the ministry was experiencing shortage of staff, which often resulted in them having to work beyond the stipulated hours.

On other issues, an agronomics officer, Mr Ketlhapeleng Karabo complained about poor customer service in the ministry, saying they were not doing enough to service their customers since the main office was at Masunga but employees were accommodated in Francistown. Mr Karabo said they could not achieve their vision and mission if employees still worked from Francistown.

Responding to some of the issues raised, Mr Ralotsia said overtime payment was not stopped but departments were requested to control it. He said there was no how people could not be paid overtime that they had worked provided good results were produced.

Mr Ralotsia encouraged them to change their mind set and work as a team to achieve their goals, adding that this year they were going to encounter some challenges.

He emphasised the turnaround times because it would improve the issue of customer services. The district crop production officer, Ms Mercy Chilume noted that lack of accommodation was one of the factors that hindered service delivery. ENDS