23 Mar 2021

There is a transparent system used to recruit employees into the public service, says Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng.

Minister Morwaeng said the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) established the unemployed data base in 2008 that catered for degree and diploma holders without previous working experience.

He said the process was transparent and that it was done online, adding that applicants were free to contact DPSM by telephone or physical visits to verify and confirm their registration.

The minister said the data base had since been relocated to the Botswana Labour Market Observatory hosted by the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC).

He said it had been consolidated into a comprehensive platform called the job seekers data base and that it covered other job seekers such as those from the Ministry of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development and that it encompassed other employers who had registered in the data base.

The minister said government ministries were encouraged to register as independent bodies so that they could be able to list their advertisements for jobs in the same data base.

He said the process had never been abused, adding that it had been subjected to auditing by three different organisations being the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), Auditor General and internal audits. The minister said the audit exercises did not encounter any cases of abuse.

He noted that the average year of applications was 2012 and said at the end of November 2020, over 49 000 graduates had registered in the data base, and that it included 11 000 who had been employed in the public service.

He said he was satisfied, adding that the country should produce globally competitive graduates in order for them to gain employment outside the country and work for international agencies.

Kanye North MP, Mr Thapelo Letsholo had asked the minister to brief Parliament on the process and criteria used in the recruitment of graduates into government employment. MP Letsholo also wanted to know if there was a transparent process and system of recruitment with tracked queuing numbers where applicants could independently check and verify their status. 

He wanted to know if the process and criteria had been abused and what had been done in respect of the culprits. ends