16 Oct 2016

The Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Mr Eric Molale says it will not be practical to impose a mandatory transfer after every two years on the fact that transfers are done in the exigencies of the service
Minister Molale was answering a question in Ntlo ya Dikgosi on October 12 in which Kgosi Peter Chika III of Chobe Region asked the minister to consider making it mandatory for people who work in village extension areas to work for a maximum of two years and transfer to developed areas in order to give them an opportunity for personal development.
The minister said while the principle is appreciated that officers should not overstay in one location, also said transfers can be prompted by several factors such as promotions, resignations, deaths, social and medical reasons, noting that given the complaints that his ministry was receiving from public servants regarding over stays, “we have since started monitoring transfers across ministries to ensure fairness in effecting transfers.”
“It should further be noted that transfers have a cost element in the form of transfer allowance and as such it will be costly for government to transfer officers every two years”, he said.
Answering another question from Kgosi Chika III, Minister Molale said distance from duty station does not form part of the criteria for earning meal allowance.
He said instead, for one to be entitled to meal allowance they should have been away from their duty station for a continuous period of six hours including lunch hour break.
Kgosi Chika III asked the minister if he will consider giving village extension workers meal allowance when they are in Kasane as they will be 135 kilometres away from their duty stations.ENDS