Molale gives BPC transformation update
Kaelo Kebotse | Wednesday June 13, 2018 12:41
Explaining why the Three R principle was not applied, Molale said that 14 months ago, Botswana Power Corporation had started implementing the Masa 2020 Transformation Strategy in order to reform its business processes.
The minister said the managerial and supervisory positions within the new structure of the corporation were advertised internally and externally. Molale said that employees who applied for jobs and were found to be competent were retained in their current position or redeployed. “Where employees had skills gaps, which could be closed within a short period of time through on-the-job training, they were offered such positions on developmental basis,” he said.
On the flipside, the minister gave a record that BPC had a staff complement at end of May 2018 out of which only five were expatriates, which is less than one percent of the corporation. He gave assurance that expatriates were not retained at the expense of locals. Those who were appointed to such positions had applied alongside locals and underwent a rigorous recruitment process.
Molale went on to say that the Masa 2020 transformation strategy has improved service delivery by connecting customers faster, reducing electricity outages as well as reducing the restoration time in the event of a fault. Stating the total cost of the exercise, BPC spent P190 million in the last 14 months on the restructuring exercise and was able to improve its profit and loss statement by P1 billion.
Talking about the restructuring of the BPC, the minister stated that the chief executive officer (CEO) of BPC has a five-year contract with four years left to date and that the Board of Directors has a succession plan for the CEO position established.
Molale was responding to a question asked by Gabane-Mmankgodi Member of Parliament, Pius Mokgware. Mokgware had wanted to know why the Three R principle (reduce, reuse and recycle) was not applied and why the expatriates were retained at the expense of locals.
He also wanted to know if the restructuring exercise has improved service delivery and for the minister to state the total cost of this exercise. He lastly wanted to know when a local would be appointed CEO.