27 Jul 2016

The Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration has informed Parliament that there are no plans to increase manpower growth in the public service.

Answering a question in Parliament, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele said this also included television and radio reporters in Mahalapye office.

He said there were seven staff members at the Department of Information and Broadcasting Services in Mahalapye and all positions had been filled.

“The office is a satellite branch meant to complement services offered to the Mahalapye Sub-district,” he said.

Mr Makgalemele further said his ministry had allocated one more vehicle to Mahalapye this financial year bringing to two the number of vehicles for the office.

However,  he noted that the delivery of the vehicle was delayed due to unforeseen logistical requirements which had since been resolved and the vehicle was expected anytime this month.

The assistant minister said, due to resource constraints, television crew was not posted to individual offices around the country, but they rather covered a wide range of localities.

“In this case, my ministry ensures that there is efficient sharing of resources, hence a television crew is often pulled from elsewhere both to augment service where there is shortage or to provide coverage where there is no crew in place,” he said.

Member of Parliament for Mahalapye West, Mr Joseph Molefe had asked the minister if he was aware that the department was understaffed at Mahalapye office to cover the sub-region and if so when will television and radio reporters be deployed to the office. Ends