24 Apr 2016

Government wants to amend the law to make every public officer transferrable in order to address staff shortage especially in rural areas.

President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama informed public officers in the Kgalagadi South constituency during a meeting he addressed in Omaweneno on Thursday April 21.

He was answering questions from some officers who had complained of overstaying in the district because some officers were not willing to fill up posts in the area.

“Your parents have sacrificed in the past without water, electricity or tarred roads, but they just went there because they were serving their country,” he explained.

 Even so, he explained that the amended version of the law would still treat each case on its own merits.

Lt Gen. Khama said over 7 000 vacant posts across all ministries. had yet to be filled.

Therefore, he said government had set aside a budget for the vacant positions and would not consider creating more until they were filled.

On other issues, Lt Gen. Dr Khama said government would use the Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) programme to address staff accommodation shortage.

He explained that government in the last six years was constrained to build more staff houses or purchase new vehicles as a result of the economic recession.

 “We had expected the economy to grow by three per cent last year but it didn’t happen that’s why we had to borrow from our reserves with a view to finance projects, but we are not going to spend as if it’s a normal year,” said the President.

Nonetheless, Lt Gen. Dr Khama was optimistic that commodity prices would improve. He revealed that the last two diamond sales showed signs of recovery.

With a view to address shortage of transport in rural areas, he encouraged ministries to purchase vehicles built for difficult terrains such as Kgalagadi.

He said it was critical for a tender to have specifications as to which kind of vehicle would be suitable for a particular area before expressions of interest were invited.

He further advised ministries to use the combination Central Transport Organization (CTO), Central Transport Unit (CTU) brigades and private workshops to maintain government fleet timeously.

Lt Gen. Dr Khama furthermore encouraged government departments to utilise the funds earmarked for maintenance purposes. He said a lion’s share of the money was returned to government coffers in the financial year that ended on March 31.

“I’m not in the bargaining council so I like meetings with public officers because they give me  a platform to get first-hand information on their conditions of service,”he said.

Meanwhile the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) director, Ms Ruth Maphorisa, has also reiterated that it was imperative to amend the law to ensure every officer became transferrable.

Ms Maphorisa further said ministries had been given up to the end of May to employ some young Batswana who were serving in the districts as intern officers or Tirelo Setshaba participants and willing to work anywhere in the country.

She also said even some job seekers on the DPSM database refused to be posted to some districts. ENDS