Gale Ngakane
20 November 2009
Francistown — Officers from the human resources department at the Francistown City Council (FCC) have been slammed for sleeping on the job and failing to deliver.
At a meeting convened by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Thato Raphaka yesterday, there was unanimous agreement that something must be done about the rot at the department. The meeting heard that officers at the department are insensitive and ask for a written application if a member of the public wants to see the top bosses. Raphaka came to Francistown to galvanise the Local Government Ministry employees to work hard to deliver services to the people, in accordance with President Ian Khama's fifth 'D' for delivery.
At the end of the meeting, officers from the human resources department cowered as the president of Botswana Land Boards and Local Authorities Workers Union, Pelotshweu Baeng tore into them accusing them of total disregard of their mandate. The unionist said the department has failed to process confirmation of those who have been acting in positions for a long time.
"I personally took the matter up with the officers at the department and they told me there are many people whose employment had not been formalised. Also, there is an issue of file numbers of employees clashing. The officers confirmed knowledge of this, but they are just sitting back doing nothing about the matter," said a bellicose Baeng.
Raphaka who had earlier addressed the packed meeting in a fatherly tone, stood up to say that it appeared there were people at the department who were shirking their responsibilities. "But we are not going to be apologetic about issues that affect our people," he warned. He was perturbed by the fact that there are people who had worked for a long time without been confirmed in their posts.
"Confirmation can affect an officer when he or she retires. Some people have died before they could enjoy their benefits because of problems like this. No, we cannot allow this to go on," said Raphaka. He was unhappy with the fact that social workers at the council were not helping people because there is no money even though there are other ways of assistance that they can offer. Raphaka ordered the city clerk and her immediate juniors to deal with the confirmation backlog and everything that is obstructing workers from performing their duties.
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