09 Jul 2023

There has been an increase of about 39 per cent from 2020 to date of public officers showing interest to join their spouses, says Assistant Minister for State President, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu.

He said spousal transfer was a public policy provided for under the General Orders governing the public service conditions of service.

Mr Mthimkhulu said 435 such applications were registered in 2020 and 283 were registered in 2022/23.

The assistant minister said a total of 718 application have been received from officers who expressed the desire to join their spouses from September 2020 to June 2023 from 19 ministries and departments.

He said 418 cases out of the 718 applications received had been approved while 300 cases were still being processed.

Mr Mthimkhulu said the challenge that hindered the policy was shortage of vacancies in some areas and no comparable positions or specialised professions. He further noted that the employer and the Public Sector Unions were undertaking an exercise on human resource policies including transfers.

The Member of Parliament for Selebi Phikwe West, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse wanted to know whether the compassionate transfer policy that promoted family values was a policy, and the number of couples who had applied to live with their spouses. He also wanted to know the number of civil servants who have benefited from policy. ENDS