Saturday 1 September 2012

CIVIL SERVANTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS WORK ANNOYS DEP. MINISTER


Home Affairs Deputy Minister Nickson Chilangwa today took to task civil servants in his ministry and another line ministry for reporting late for work.
And Mr. Chilangwa said government will not hesitate to lay off workers who were not prepared to work because there are thousands of other Zambians who were capable of taking up such jobs.
The Deputy Minister, who is in Southern Province on an impromptu tour of departments under his ministry, was disappointed to find that almost all workers in various department of the Ministry of Home Affairs report very late for work.
He first visited Victoria Falls Border Post slightly after 05:50 and had to wait for over 15 minutes before Zambia Revenue Authority (Officers), who should have opened the border at exactly 05:58 hours, arrived after 06:00 hours while clients queued up waiting to be cleared at the border.
The situation was not different at the National Registration, Passport and Citizenship Office where Mr. Chilangwa had to wait for over 50 minutes before the Provincial Registrar, who was the first officer to report for work, arrived at the office at about 08:26.
The scenario was even worse at the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) where Livingstone Office Station Manager Peter Mwanza and his other officers only came in at 08:40 hours and rudely spoke to Mr. Chilangwa without realising who he was.
Mr. Chilangwa almost sent Mr. Mwanza back home but rescinded his decision in the interest of the waiting crowd of people that were waiting to be served.
He expressed dismay at the poor work culture and bad behaviour exhibited by RTSA officers towards other clients.
He said it was unacceptable for workers to report late for work and to treat the public with contempt, saying workers were there to give quality service to the public.
Mr. Chilangwa has since urged civil servants in his ministry, who were not prepared to work, to resign on moral grounds in order to pave way for other people who would positively contribute to the economic development of the country.
He said government will not tolerate indiscipline at work places and would not hesitate to lay off workers who were not committed to duty.
He urged the workers under his ministry to change their attitude towards work especially with the upcoming hosting of the United Nations World Tourism Conference in 2013 by Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Mr. Chilangwa said workers, who were not putting in the full value of what they are paid for, were stealing from the Zambian people who were paying taxes.
He further stated that government will not be able to fulfil premises it made to the Zambian people prior to the 2011 elections without the hard work and full participation of workers in the country.
He said the culture where workers want to be pushed in order to work was undesirable, saying the Zambia that everyone was looking for will not come by chance but through hard work.
And Mr. Chilangwa said government was committed to improving the work environment under which officers operate in order to maximise their potential.
He said government is in the process of procuring new equipment, building new infrastructure and rehabilitating the existing ones in a bid to raise the morale of workers.
And heads of various departments under the Ministry of Home Affairs in Livingstone complained of lack of staff, transport, office equipment and poor funding.
They told the minister that these challenges have negatively hampered their delivery of services to the people in the area.
ZANIS

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