GOVERNMENT HIRING FREEZE: OVER 700 VACANT POSITIONS

MBABANE – While government is saving millions through the hiring freeze, is it at the detriment of service delivery?

The administration is said to have saved about E30 million following the suspension of new recruitments, replacements and promotions in the civil service.
With the bloated wage bill in the country, this seems to be a positive move as it seeks to implement the reasoning of the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg – who in his maiden budget speech said government had to shift from being the employer of choice by involving the private sector.

While implementing this positive move – government is in dire need to fill over 700 critical positions in the Cabinet offices, office of the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and the 18 ministries.
According to the various quarterly reports presented in Parliament, the different ministries through their various departments outlined serious shortages of personnel.

While elaborating on the shortage of human resource based on the freezing of employing and creation of posts, it was brought to the forefront that while some positions were vacant, others were critical in the functioning of the various ministries.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, under the Fire and Emergency Services, reported that it had 158 crucial vacancies.

With these, 33 were listed to be in the Royal Wing, nine were in the central control room; eight were needed for the Siphofaneni Satellite Fire Station; 54 for the Big Bend Satellite Fire Station and another 54 were to be recruited for the Mankayane Satellite Fire Station.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Health highlighted that 137 posts were vacant and were expected to be filled this financial year. Of these vacancies available, 19 are for medical or dental officers, while 77 are for nurses and midwives.

Critical

On the other hand, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport has 57 vacancies. Some of these positions were listed as critical.
The other ministry that has been vocal about the lack of personnel is the Ministry of Education and Training.

Teachers and head teachers have taken to the streets to petition the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Training, Dr Sibongile Mtshali.
They cited that they were frustrated by the lack of teachers such that schools were turning into day care centres. The lack of personnel is not limited to just schools, as per the first quarter report from the ministry.

Colleges were said to be facing an exodus of lecturers – who cannot be replaced due to the hiring freeze. There was no precise number allocated to the shortage just like it was with the other ministries – Justice and Constitutional Affairs; Public Service; Deputy Prime Minister’s Office and Economic Planning and Development.

The shortage of personnel, according to public sector associations, frustrates the operations of the various ministries. The core affected part is that of service delivery despite that government, in its Strategic and Economic Recovery Road map, cites introducing a culture of excellence across all ministries, department and agencies - where merit and delivery are rewarded.

The various ministries noted in their reports that given the shortage of human resource, those who were holding the fort were stretched and thus it compromised service delivery.

On the other hand, the hiring freeze seems to be in line with the plans initiated by the 10th Cabinet led by deceased former Prime Minister, Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini.

This initiative was to minimise the wage bill through stopping recruitment in the civil service, save for replacing those who had vacated existing posts. This plan was endorsed by the incumbent government as outlined by the minister of Finance in his budget speech.

In his maiden budget speech, Rijkenberg said the administration wanted to bring the private sector into the economy as game changers.
 “Government can no longer be the employer of choice in the Kingdom as it is today. Today, I call on everyone to unify your support for our economic recovery and truly collaborate to build the proud nation that we all envision and deserve,” he said.

Larger

He highlighted that many players in the private sector were larger than the economy of the country and bringing them into it to be players needed making the micro economic environment conducive; so they could relieve government of being the employer of choice.
Cutting the wage bill seems to be the obvious solution as the country is facing an unprecedented economic crisis. Preliminary estimates suggest a contraction of 0.4 per cent in our GDP for 2018 and the economic outlook remains subdued.

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