10 Nov 2013

Heads of government departments should prepare for disasters well on time, says the deputy district commissioner for Palapye Administration Authority, Ms Veronica Rabakane.

Addressing heads of department in a meeting on November 9, Ms Rabakane said heads of department who also formed part of the district disaster committee should know areas in the district that were prone to disaster especially floods. Ms Rabakane said the rainy season more often resulted in floods, which usually affected people in the villages of Maunatlala, Mogapi, Lerala and Topisi.

She said officers should always be prepared to help flood victims in those areas to minimize the impact. To achieve this, she said, officers should work as a team because working in silos did not bring good results. She urged officers to be reliable and ready to help communities that were likely to be affected by disaster this rainy season.

In addition, she urged officers going on leave to always inform her office and submit names of people who would be acting in their absence so that the disaster committee continued to function effectively. She also urged heads of department to make visits to villages they were assigned to in order to assess the situation.

Ms Rabakane emphasised on the importance of the public service charter and informed all heads of department to inform themselves about tools put in place to guide civil servants.

She also informed them to cascade these tools to their subordinates so that they knew what was expected of them as civil servants. She said it was worrisome that some civil servants did not know about these tools and had no copies of them in their offices, adding that it was a cause for concern.

She urged heads of department to make these tools available in their respective offices and adhere to them. She also informed them about the 10-point agenda, urging them to treat customers, especially senior citizens with respect.

She also informed them to unlock all toilets for use by employees and customers, adding that customers have difficulty in accessing toilets because they were always locked. Ms Rabakane raised concern about heads of department who were habitual late comers even though they were the ones who were supposed to ensure that their subordinates do not come to work late.

She urged heads of department to adhere to tools put in place to monitor movement of staff during working hours. Ends