27 Mar 2019

 The criteria used in paying agricultural extension officers who are in C-Band salary scale in both the Departments of Veterinary Services and Crop Production, are in accordance with the Public Services Management Directive No 4. of 2005 Revised Direct Entry to Cadres.

This was said by the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi when responding to a question in Parliament on behalf of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration minister, Mr Nonofo Molefhi.

The directive, Mr Kgathi said ‘states that Certificate holders in Meat Inspection in the Department of Veterinary Services at entry level are placed at C4, while those who hold Certificate in Agriculture at Department of Crop Production are placed at B3 entry level.’

Diploma holders in Agriculture, he said were placed at the same entry point C4-5^th notch at both the Department of Veterinary Services and the Department of Crop Production, while Degree holders in Agricultural Extension/Education are placed at C3-2^nd notch for the department of Veterinary Services and Crop Production.

However, Mr Kgathi said those who held a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery or equipment in the Department of Veterinary Services, entered at C1-5^th notch.

“There is a disparity of grades and notches as the jobs are neither parallel nor the same and require different skill sets. 

Furthermore, they perform different functions and the jobs are graded based on their job worth after an evaluation or assessment is done by the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM),” he added.

He also explained that the difference in the notches between the two cadres was a result of the job evaluation exercise as approved by the ministry through DPSM, adding that ‘job evaluation systems grade jobs based on job content as contained in an approved job effectiveness description and not the knowledge or qualifications of job incumbents’.

As job evaluation is based on the intrinsic and relative worth of jobs, Mr Kgathi said any requests for reassessment could be done following re-organisation, in the event of an appeal against a grade, or if the ministry felt that the content for a particular job had significantly changed to warrant re-assessment.

“Even where the job has changed, job evaluation does not always result in upgrading of a position,” he added.

Nata-Gweta legislator, Mr Polson Majaga had asked Mr Kgathi to state the criteria used in paying the veterinary department officers and agriculture demonstrators who were on C-Band salary scale and further state why there was so much difference in their C salary notches.

MP Majaga also wanted the minister to state the difference between the two cadres as they were doing parallel jobs and were in the same ministry with the same qualifications and when the minister would address such. ENDS