25 Apr 2018

Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Ms Dorcas Makgato says employment creation for the youth remains top priority for government.

Speaking during a visit to Sikwane Border Post recently, Minister Makgato said as a ministry, they should look into their processes to see how they could create employment for others.

She said sometimes the services they provided were delayed by the processes that were in place hence the need to find solutions of addressing them by bringing transformation and be seen as employment creators.

Minister Makgato said she was passionate about gender issues and that recently her ministry had been faced with challenges of having to deal with back log of funding businesses through the gender affairs department.

She however promised to work round the clock to find ways of dealing with the problem despite the ministry’s small budget.

She told her staff that she was an easy going minister who also wanted productive officers who loved their job and could go beyond the call of duty to service customers.

She said she wanted officers who addressed challenges and asked for help when things were not going accordingly.

Minister Makgato said she would double her efforts in making sure that service provision was carried out smoothly across her departments and liaised with other concerned ministries so that the whole processes were aligned for security and control.

She said even though she was still new to the ministry, she came with a lot of experience and she would like to leave a legacy by transforming the ministry to excel.

She asked her staff members to give them a chance to settle and know the issues at hand as most of them including the Permanent Secretary and other senior officers were new.

Ms Makgato said she was not pleased with the long queues at entry points and Omang offices advising that it was important for members of staff to devise a plan on how to assist customers during peak hours.

Minister Makgato said her ministry would carry out intensive educational campaign especially along the border villages to educate people on issues of citizenship and related matters.

When briefing the minister, Sikwane Border Post officer in charge Ms Lilian Saitsoketsa said the border post was made up of six staff members and two complementary staff.

She said the officers were facing serious challenge of accommodation shortage as they only had two houses forcing the rest of other officers to rent in the village.

When giving vote of thanks, deputy permanent secretary Dr Themba Mmusi urged the staff members to remain productive and give service to their customers. ENDS