Kwerepe cautions supervisors against abuse of office
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Wednesday October 25, 2017 14:01
When addressing a consultative meeting with civil servants recently at Francistown Civic Centre, Kwerepe said challenges faced by civil servants such as unpaid leave, overtime and unfair transfers and dismissals, are triggered by poor management.
He said some of supervisors have a continuous tendency of abusing their positions in the workplace, which affects service delivery.
He stated that the law clearly states that if you have worked overtime you should be paid for it.
He added that promotions should also be offered to workers who perform well and not along friendship lines.
“I don’t understand why is it difficult to follow the right procedures. After this meeting I would like to meet with supervisors of different government departments so that we can address this issue,” he said.
Kwerepe also raised a concern about departments which return their income to the government after each financial year.
He said departments should use all the money allocated to them during the beginning of each financial year.
“Some of the ministries would be allocated less than their annual budget but at the end of the year they will be returning some of the funds even though their offices are facing scarcity of resources,” he said.
He said that such behaviour fuels some of the challenges government employees are facing.
Kwerepe also urged civil servants to maintain zero tolerance for corruption.
During the questions and comments session, Botswana Land Board and Local Authorities and Health Workers Union (BLLAHWU) regional chairperson, Mudongo Zikhale said that their members are faced with shortage of accommodation, unpaid overtime, leave and pension, which affects service delivery in organisations.
He protested against night out claim amount, which he said is not enough.
Zikhale said that government employees should be given P500 as night out rather than the P148 they are getting right now, arguing that the increase would reduce money wasted on imprest.
Another attendant and representative of the Fire Department, Elisha Maikano said that they are currently facing shortage of manpower in their department.
He proposed for the Fire Act (1995) to be revised so that they can be paid better salaries.
Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) regional organiser, Phillip Mokgosi said that since the closure of Francistown College of Education (FCE) some of the lectures were not given their packages.
He said that teachers engaging in sports activities are still not paid their night out, which is unfair and could hinder their performance at school. When attending to their questions and comments, a representative of the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), Victor Manyanda concurred with Maikano and said that the Fire Act is long overdue thus it needs to be revised.
Manyanda also encouraged supervisors in government departments to pay civil servants their overtime and leave days, adding that employees should use imprest funds wisely.