09 Apr 2017

Parastatals that report to the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, have a total of 143 vacant posts and 87 temporary employees including interns.

Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry,  Mr Vincent Seretsetold Parliament on April 6 that the said parastatals were Botswana Bureau of Standards, Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Authority (CEDA), Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), Competition Authority (CA), Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), SPEDU, Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), and Botswana Development Corporation (BDC).

Responding to a question from Specially Elected MP, Mr Mephato Reatile, Minister Seretse said BOBS had 18 vacant posts as at March, six temporary employees while the longest vacant post of facilities manager had been vacant since July 2015 (20 months).

He said posts had been vacant due to unavailability of suitable candidates and inability to attract the right candidates due to low remuneration package for the post.

Mr Seretse further said CEDA had 9 vacant posts, five temporary employees and the period for the longest vacant post was one year four months.

The challenge in recruiting staff, he said was matching the right candidate with the existing remuneration structure.

Again, he added that CEDA could not afford the skills required for Structured Finance in the market as a lot of suitable candidates had turned down the offers from CEDA.

The Agency, he noted was developing a separate pay structure for the department in order to attract the right candidate.

Regarding LEA, Minister Seretse said it had 26 vacant positions as at March 23, adding that there had been a recruitment freeze of 14 positions since May 2013 as a cost saving measure to operate with a lesser workforce.

In addition, he said the constrained financial resources since 2013, due to LEA subvention remaining the same, a further 12 positions that fell vacant since October 2015 were not filled.

However, the minister stated that to date LEA had six temporary employees and six interns, adding that the period of the longest vacant post was October 2015, excluding the 14 positions that had been frozen since May 2013.

He said the unattractive remuneration packages were the main challenges that delayed filling of the posts, ‘however, where possible, LEA has been filling up positions through internal promotions.’

Mr Seretse further told the House that CA had one vacancy, six temporary employees, with the period for the longest vacant post being 11 months. 

“Vacant posts have been advertised and the recruitment process is on-going,” he said.

Parliament also heard that CIPA had 50 vacant positions, 12 temporary employees and 34 intern officers and the longest vacant post was for a period of three years.

Other three parastatals, SPEDU, BITC and BDC have 23, 14 and 2 vacant posts respectively. With SPEDU, ‘recruitment is incrementally done every year subject to the approved financial resources.’

The BITC, he said, had 12 temporary employees and the longest vacant position has been there since 2012, due to the re-alignment exercise expected to be complete this year.

He further told the House that BDC had no temporary employees within BDC.

MP Reatile had asked the minister to state the number of vacant posts for parastatals that report to his ministry, the number of temporary employees engaged, the period of the longest vacant posts and challenges that cause delay in filling these vacant posts. ENDS