26 Aug 2015

The Directorate of Public Service Management director, Ms Ruth Maphorisa says team spirit and honest leadership are key to quality service delivery in the public service.

Addressing civil servants in Jwaneng on Monday August 24, Ms Maphorisa said the public has invested its trust on them and that they need to deliver timely and relevant services to customers. 

She said poor leadership results in poor service delivery, adding that a leader should always be accountable and treat all employees fairly without favour. 

“Leadership is creativity and a responsibility as well as the ability to make critical decisions,” she noted.

 Ms Maphorisa challenged heads of departments to avoid sanctions in the workplace which could  affect service delivery. 

She said in some instances, supervisors favour non-performing employees during assessment and neglect hardworking staff their rightful promotions.

She further said the government has stopped performance bonuses because the assessment of employees was not done fairly by supervisors. She called on employees to create good working relationships amongst themselves to enhance a positive working environment.

Ms Maphorisa challenged civil servants to be creative, noting that some professions were not going to be needed as the world transforms to technology and embrace the 21^st century. 

She said it was important that employees improve their skills and knowledge through education to embrace changes that come with restructuring of government systems.

She further noted that investors were looking for a globally competitive public service that was corruption free. 

“Public service is a calling of the highest order, therefore, we should acknowledge that our salaries cannot be the same as those in the private sector because we are not a profit making entity,” she said.

For their part, civil servants said shortage of accommodation in Jwaneng was a challenge. They said they were  forced to wait for over five years on the waiting list resulting in them seeking accommodation in Sese which is almost 10km from Jwaneng.  

They said the least paid employees were the hardest hit in terms of accommodation shortage as they have to pay for transport. 

They also called on the government subsidise accommodation for those in the lower cadres.

Furthermore, they compained about the shortage of transport in government offices, noting that it affects service delivery.

In response, Ms Maphorisa said in future the government would consider hiring private vehicles to relieve where government vehicles were scarce. 

On the issue of accommodation, she said Botswana Housing Corporation would build 540 houses for civil servants this year countrywide of which 99 would be built in Jwaneng. Ends