13 Jun 2018

Government departments have been advised to give customers feedback on time.

Addressing department heads in Letlhakeng on Tuesday, deputy district commissioner, Mr Boammaaruri Otlhogile said failure to give feedback led to clients flooding his office with complaints.

He said the situation became more dire when such customers had to travel from the farthest parts of the sub-district where there were transport challenges.

“Most of the clients complain that departments usually promise to give them feedback within two weeks or so, which is a reasonable period, but then never do so,” he said.

Mr Otlhogile also encouraged department heads to make staff welfare a priority, saying it could only be achieved by addressing staff grievances on time.

“We have observed that staff grievances take very long to be addressed while others are never addressed at all. The most common grievance across departments is failure to make payments due to staff members,” he said.

He said it was the reason some employees resorted to reporting issues to labour unions or even to permanent secretaries.

Mr Otlhogile said it was no secret that government was currently facing financial challenges and might not be able to make some payments on time.

“Affected officers should be advised upfront so they could appreciate the situation,” he said.

Mr Otlhogile said his office was aware of shortage of accommodation and office space which had been exacerbated by the fact that many departments had been experiencing growth in staff complement over the years against stagnation in the construction of houses and offices.

He noted that in some instances, even heads of departments were forced to share offices with their juniors. Mr Otlhogile expressed disappointment that despite all the challenges, some officers had not occupied houses they were allocated.

On other issues, Mr Otlhogile expressed concern about habitual late coming and knocking off early by supervisors.

He noted that failure to adhere to official times was worsened by the fact that most civil servants in Letlhakeng commuted from Molepolole.

Another speaker, Department of Buildings and Engineering Services’ Ms Kegomoditswe Sibisibi emphasised the need to undertake maintenance at the right time given the advanced age of some of the buildings. Ends