22 Sep 2022

Even though it is constrained by lack of funds and limited resources, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services is highly regarded by government.

Speaking during a familiarisation tour of Jwaneng fire station on Wednesday September 21, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Mabuse Pule informed employees of the department that theirs was a special department that ranked with the Botswana Police and the Botswana Defence Force.

“In that regard, you deserve to be given special treatment. This also requires you as employees to behave well and desist form unbecoming behaviour that does not reflect your department’s integrity. Minor issues such as cleanliness and responsible drinking should be part and parcel of lives because your duty requires you to have a sober mind when dispensing it,” said.

Mr Pule also informed them that the ministry had proposed a restructuring process which will, if approved, see the department being headed at a higher scale, something he said would also trickle down to other employees in closing gaps between salary scales.

He also assured them that their issues of concern such as lack of a fire engine had been noted and that in the meantime, contingency plans such as a Memorandum of Agreement could be used for councils to share resources.

He said issues of budgetary constraints were a challenge to all government departments, even at Parliament level, however, saying that they took solace in the fact that economic forecast showed likely improvement for the next financial year, which may help government realise some of its development plans.

Mr Pule, however, indicated that making the department a stand-alone institution would not be possible.

He was responding after one of the employees, Mr Kealeboga Sebekedi suggested that the department should be made independent from the council so that it could have its own budget.

“At the moment our budget is meagre because we are funded under the councils. This is despite a fire department being expensive to run. Everything from uniform to equipment is costly,” he reasoned.

Earlier on when welcoming the minister at a meeting with senior council management, Jwaneng deputy mayor, Mr Koolopile Pema said the council was at an all-time low because things such as development projects were not going well due to lack of funds.

“This causes friction between civil servants and the political representatives. As politicians people feel we are not performing and when we push civil servants they cite lack of funds,” he said.

He said for the council to raise funds through other avenues besides government grants was a challenge because people were hard to trace when it came to payment of rates because most were absentee landlords.

He said that such shortage of funds led to the grounding of council fleet, which suffered basic services such as sanitation. Ends