Gov’t rules out new jobs in public service

The creation of new positions in public service has been ruled out with officials citing the country Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) Director, Gaone Machola, has revealed that government has frozen new posts and will instead redeploy employees from overstaffed ministries to those experiencing shortages. "We currently do not have the financial capacity to create new vacancies,” she said when appearing before the 62nd PAC hearing. “Where we identify ministries with excess staff, we will transfer those employees to ministries that are understaffed instead of creating new positions,” Machola told the committee. Her remarks disappointed PAC members, who argued that government should be creating employment opportunities for thousands of unemployed graduates rather than maintaining a recruitment freeze. However, Machola explained that Botswana's slowing economic growth has significantly constrained government's ability to expand the public service. She said while the country previously absorbed almost every graduate from the University of Botswana (UB), the situation has changed dramatically.