28 Jan 2013

Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu has urged civil servants to explore other means of improving service delivery with the limited resources at their disposal.

Addressing civil servants under his ministry in Francistown recently, Minister Batshu said efforts to address numerous complaints emanating from poor service delivery in the ministry should be looked into.

Even though he acknowledged that there should be catalysts to help employees to do their work effectively, he encouraged officers to be innovative in order to drive the mandate of the ministry.

“I agree that officers should be capacitated but they should also be efficient and take their responsibilities seriously, while being accountable despite the obstacles they face,” he said.

Furthermore, he advised officers to refrain from corrupt practices saying government services were free and as such officers should not receive any inducements from the public.

He also informed them that performance reviews would be taken seriously and that work improvement teams (WITs) would be revived and put into practice in the next financial year.

Mr Batshu said supervisors would be expected to have certain competencies to be able to take necessary steps against underperforming officers. He further told employees that they would be rewarded for their performance and encouraged them to further their own studies instead of waiting for government to sponsor them.

Meanwhile, officers informed the minister that lack of resources such as transport was a major challenge which hindered them to do their work. They said they failed to travel to other areas to provide services to their clients.

Senior industrial officer at the Francistown regional office, Mr Letang Khakhana said despite being aware of the ministry’s mandate, they were failing due to circumstances faced by different offices.

Besides shortage of transport, Mr Khakhana said officers were de-motivated because they were not recognised for their performance. Some officers who have been in the service for a long time did not progress while junior officers joining the public service were promoted almost every two years.

The chief immigration officer, Mr Montshwaredi Mothomogolo decried the fact  that some of the ministry’s departments were working in isolation and did not want to share resources.

Mr Mothomogolo suggested that the ministry should be responsible for its fleet and engage private garages unlike now where most of their vehicles took time at the Central Transport Organisation waiting to be attended. ENDS