16 Nov 2017

Government salary scale A and B grades are based on the Patterson Decision Making Job Evaluation that is currently in use and goes from scale A to F, says Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Thato Kwerepe.

Mr Kwerepe said the functional responsibilities for scale A and B had not changed to warrant any changes in their grading and therefore the two grades were still considered relevant.

He said the Patterson method looked at the complexity of decision making for each job hence the current salaries for the effected cadres were based on the job content. The salary scales in question are for jobs which are defined and operational in nature with limit decision making, he added.

He said it should further be noted that the salary scales also reflected the relativities across the entire pay structure.

Mr Kwerepe stated that his ministry through the Directorate of Public Service Management was in the process of reviewing the public service salary structure with its associated allowances and the performance management.

Further, he said ‘over and above the basic salary, government pays allowances like housing and upkeep and has also put in place schemes to cushion employees’ salaries.’ Assistant Minister Kwerepe was responding to a question in Parliament by Gaborone North Member of Parliament, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa. 

Mr Nkaigwa had asked the minister to explain what plans were in place to do away with government salary scale A and B. The minister was also asked to explain further how the officers were expected to live on such low salaries. BOPA