18 Nov 2020

The livelihood of civil servants remains stagnant even when they spend many years working in the public service, and much needs to be done to improve their conditions of service, Palapye MP, Mr Onnetse Ramogapi has said.

In his contribution to the ongoing debate on the State-of-the-Nation Address in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Ramogapi said there was a cadre of public servants whose income remained stagnant although they worked hard for the country.

Mr Ramogapi thus called for the abolition of the A and B scale of the civil service payment structure to be replaced by a better pay arrangement and for accelerated promotion for those in the C band.

He suggested that the pay structure be reviewed to allow for accelerated promotion to avoid the stagnation that destroyed the morale of public servants. This, he said, was because of a trend where there was concentration of people who reach the C1 scale with little prospects for promotion.

Mr Ramogapi also called for a living wage for workers in the private sector. Arguing that the current minimum wage was designed with unskilled labour in mind, he said skilled and qualified artisans ended up being exploited, earning low wages that were not consummate with their qualification and work since they were not protected by law.

Lamenting what he considers the exploitation of people in the internship programme, Mr Ramogapi said the government should consider increasing their pay, as they earn a pittance despite being qualified and working hard at regular hours of the fully employed.

Mr Ramogapi complained that under current COVID-19 regulations, liquor restaurants were being allowed to operate daily, while bars were restricted to certain days and hours.

“This prejudiced bars from trading effectively, and defeated the very spirit of the regulations as people end up crowding in liquor restaurants instead of being evenly spread across different outlets,” Mr Ramogapi said.

Meanwhile, Takatokwane MP, Mr Tshoganetso Leuwe called for the improvement of the Letlhakeng-Khutse Game Reserve road, which passes through villages such as Salajwe, Khudumelapye and Kaudwane.

He thanked the Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Thulagano Segokgo for having travelled with him to his constituency to appreciate the current state of the road.

Mr Leuwe said such roads were of great value to those who used them daily, and also had an economic benefit as they connected larger towns with tourist attractions such as the game reserve.

He also called for the government to ensure better control of the movement of wild animals.

Mr Leuwe said if the animals strayed out of game reserves and national parks, they ended up causing human-wildlife conflict, which he said was a challenge in his constituency.

Mr Leuwe called for a better compensation structure for people whose crops and livestock were destroyed by wild animals. ENDS