More than 450 vacancies at Minerals ministry
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday March 22, 2017 15:55
Minister Sadique Kebonang’s revelation follows a question asked by the Specially Elected MP, Mephato Reatile who had wanted to know the number of vacant posts amongst departments under his Ministry.
Kebonang stated that there were currently 253 vacancies at the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), 17 at the Minerals Development Company (MDCB), five at the Botswana Oil Company (BOL) and 183 vacant posts at the Botswana Geosciences Institute (BGI) for its new structure.
“Only one post for CEO has been filled at the BGI and 16 posts have been advertised and interviews are ongoing,” Kebonang said.
He stated that 54 temporary employees have been engaged to gain experience at BPC, three at MDCB, two at BOL with the numbers excluding those on Government internship and Tirelo Sechaba programmes.
Kebonang said the longest time vacancies were not filled was 83 months at BPC, 38 months at MDCB, six months at BOL and three months at BGI. He explained that some vacancies at BPC were not filled because they were being forfeited by their non-existence in the new structure due to optimisation of resources.
He said some reasons were management decisions to outsource some functions, making those posts redundant. “Management also decided to hold out on some recruitments due to the impending restructuring exercise,” Kebonang explained.
He said the delay in the filling of vacant posts at MDCB was because some vacancies were only to be recruited for after the directors for those functions were appointed.
“Another reason was that some candidates turned down job offers due to non-competitive remuneration packages and uncertainty surrounding the company,” Kebonang said.
He stated that the company also wanted to have some of the positions analysed and evaluated. He said the MDCB strategic plan will be reviewed once the company strategy and operational structure has been agreed to by the MDCB Board and approved by the shareholders.
“This process will most likely see the number of vacancies being reduced or restructured. The company also took deliberate decisions not to fill some of the positions and rather use consultants on a needs basis for a number of years before filling the vacancies,” said Kebonang.
Addressing delays in filling of posts under BOL, Kebonang stated that very minimal delays have been experienced with recruitments being staggered intentionally to respond to business needs and affordability.
Kebonang said while the recruitment process is ongoing at BGI, the institute is awaiting the approval of the remuneration structure from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
Reatile had wanted Kebonang to state the total number of vacant posts at the latter’s Ministry and to provide a breakdown by departments and districts.
He also wanted to know the number of temporary employees engaged to acquire experience and challenges that cause delay in filling the vacant posts. Responding, Kebonang stated that his Ministry has 45 vacancies out of a total of 522 posts broken down by departments and districts.
“There are 23 vacant posts here (headquarters), 14 at the Department of Mines in Gaborone and one at Francistown, with two at Geological Survey at Lobatse and five at the Department of Energy in Gaborone.
He said the delay was caused by the general trend where experienced personnel, especially in the mining and engineering fields, tend to prefer to work for the private sector, resulting in the slow process of filling the vacant posts.
Reatile raised a concern over the high numbers of vacant posts, stating that the majority of Batswana are unemployed and eagerly waiting to fill those posts. “Do you see this being fair to Batswana who are unemployed? Please advertise those posts.”