09 Sep 2013

There is a serious concern that turnaround time on visa, work and residence permits is too slow, says the minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu.

Addressing the ministry’s senior management during a team building retreat in Palapye on September 5, Mr Batshu said queues for services including Omang, should challenge his ministry to rise above their normal best, adding “quality is a way of doing a job.”

“Customers may never be content with poor service that lacks attentiveness at work. When we are called upon to serve we must do so with a lot of pride, secure in our minds that we are serving and delighting our customers.” 

He said employees should not get used to customer’s complaints of their service but should leverage their collective effort and achieve their best.

He said the two-day retreat would give the senior management the opportunity to reflect on whether they were a winning team and to identify challenges in order to realise their potential. At the end of the retreat, he said employees should achieve more support for and participation in the implementation plans, increased contribution to problem solving and decision making, direct accountability for results, among others.

He said these attributes should be able to assist in building a high performing organisation and culture that is systematic and progressive to develop into a working unit. 

The latter, he said, must focus on the ministry’s goal and vision and on the reason for the existence of the ministry of labour and home affairs. 

“It is my desire and hope to that we will be a team that is based on membership of hard work and tenacity. We will sweat together and celebrate the fruit of our hard labour together. Our commitment should never be in question.” 

He said genuine team membership carried with it a strong sense of belonging, where one understands that while they are not indispensable as an individual, they are an important team player upon whom rests the grave responsibility of partly carrying the entire team to the finish line.

Mr Batshu who is also MP for Nkange said organisations like individuals should have a culture that evolves with time, otherwise “we risk being irrelevant in our entity.”

For his part Permanent Secretary in the ministry Mr Ikotlhaeng Bagopi said the senior management should develop principles of getting things done, adding that when they set targets they should have relevant resources and know the kind of people they are going to deal with. 

He urged them to set clear goals and priorities and then follow through because there is no need to develop goals and principles that people do not own. He also urged them to reward those who excel in executing their duties. 

The retreat aimed at creating team coherence and to establish harmonious working relations. ENDS