20 Aug 2018

Public employees in the Hukuntsi Sub-district have pleaded with Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP), Mr Carter Morupisi, for the revival of the early exit policy, to aid creation of job opportunities for the youth.

Presenting some of the cross cutting issues affecting public employees in Kgalagadi North recently, Hukuntsi Sub-district Council principal economic planner, Mr Tumelo Setshogo said early exit programme should be reconsidered, especially for those who are about to reach retirement age to pave way for the unemployed youth.

He also said government departments must be encouraged to adhere to transfer policy, where officers are due for transfers once they have served a period of three to five years at a station.

Mr Setshogo said employees stationed at the remote areas are mostly disadvantaged because they are often transferred from one remote area to another while those in urban areas rotate within the peri-urban centres and refuse transfers to remote areas, the situations he said was demoralising officers in remote areas.

He said there was need for officers in areas considered remote to also be transferred to peri-urban centres where they could  also tap into opportunities such as advancing their studies. In addition, he said there were also concerns that officers who overstayed in one station were susceptible to corrupt practices.

Mr Setshogo proposed that as a way of making remote areas more attractive to employees, government should extend Remote Area Subsistence Allowance (RASA) incentive to all officers serving in areas such as Hukuntsi.

He also requested that public officers housing be included in the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) which currently focuses more on the construction of the classrooms, ablution blocks and a few others.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, Kgosi Merapelo Tshweneyagae of Hukuntsi lauded PSP’s visit, to get first-hand information on issues affecting public officers in their localities and how to best assist them to perform their daily duties optimally.

For his part, Mr Morupisi said permanent secretaries would work round the clock to see how best some issues could be resolved and also advised that some of the issues were best addressed by the Public Service Bargaining council (PSBC) which is expected to be operational by September.

He encouraged public employees to support government efforts to promote quality service delivery by adhering to Public Service Act and other codes of good practice in place.

He urged public employees to refrain from politics in compliance with the Public Service Act and reminded them that they were also not allowed to vote in primary elections. ENDS