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Mwanza back home but rescinded his decision in the interest of the waiting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
