15 Nov 2017

Ministries of Finance and Economic Development and Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development on Thursday held a joint wellness and fitness day in Letlhakeng.

Officiating at the event, the chief accountant for South Central branch, Mr Molemise Kedumetse indicated that as a ministry, they took interest in the overall wellness of employees to boost productivity.

He said activities such as wellness days were vital in achieving such an objective.

Mr Kedumetse said other  measures included providing employees with counselling, and also encouraged public servants to make it a habit of testing for non-communicable diseases as well as exercising regularly to boost their productivity at work.

Mr Kedumetse also indicated that non-communicable diseases, which are also known as lifestyle diseases are a serious concern to government, as such diseases continue to cripple the civil service even though they are preventable.

“Statistics indicate that government spends P80 million annually on ARVs alone, while lifestyle diseases claim three times that amount,” he said.

Mr Kedumetse also urged people to change their lifestyle where they spend most of the time using vehicles and watching television without any exercise or selective diet.

He also said that some ministries have provided its employees with gymnasiums at work places, and encouraged those who have such to fully utilise them.

For his part, Kgosi Tumelo Puleng of Letlhakeng said lifestyle diseases were prevalent in his village, adding that the situation was exacerbated by the reluctance of members of the community, especially the youth, to participate in wellness activities.

“I have noticed with concern that in most wellness activities that are often organised in this village, members of the community hardly participate to the extent that such events end up appearing like they are for civil servants only,” he said.

Kgosi Puleng said that such lack of enthusiasm on regular exercising had even led to some government funded youths gymnasiums collapsing.

He therefore urged the community members to participate in such activities in high numbers.

Giving a vote of thanks, the programmes officer for MYSC Letlhakeng, Ms Felicity Nyoni appreciated the joint effort by the two ministries, and said because wellness in the work place was a new phenomenon, such hype was necessary to encourage more participation.

She noted that wellness was not necessarily the absence of diseases, but that even emotional unrest can be considered as a state of not being well. BOPA