AG's office struggles to retain staff

Isaiah Morewagae | Friday March 14, 2014 16:44

Presenting a budget proposal for the AG Chambers, the Minister for Defence Justice and Security told Parliament that some of the challenges include the attrition of experienced middle managers in the core business of the AG Chambers.

However, said Seretse, concerted efforts are being undertaken to capacitate the AG’s Chambers and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) with the requisite number of lawyers that possess the right skills and experience.

“As I have previously indicated to this House, the retention of these professionals has become increasingly challenging due to prevailing economic constraints,” Seretse said.

Seretse said they would continue to engage and benchmark internationally on issues of staff welfare, remuneration and general conditions of services for lawyers. He indicated that his ministry is in the process of reviewing its job effectiveness descriptions for professional staff to meet the current challenges and incorporate new trends emerging in the market.

Seretse also said in the whole of the DPP, the ratio of cases on average is 163 per prosecutor. “This indeed is an overload which is being addressed on an ongoing basis,” Seretse said.

He stressed that the government is doing all it can to speed up the process of recruitment of qualified staff at all levels to augment existing personnel. Seretse also noted that last year the DPP established a new corruption unit, which will deal with the prosecution of corruption and related cases at the Magistrate courts, High Court and Court of Appeal.

To that end, Seretse requested Parliament to approve close to P172 million for the Attorney General Chambers for the year 2014/2015.