Africa-Press – Eswatini. Whether or not civil servants agree to the performance management system (PMS), government has categorically stated that the system will come into effect April 1st.
The statement by Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Sipho Tsabedze, comes in the wake of strong opposition by the National Allied Public Service Workers Union (NAPSAWU) to the effect they were strongly opposed to implementation of the system until such conditions were met.
The union had earlier threatened to institute legal proceedings if the system gets implemented without their approval.
However, Tsabedze yesterday insisted that they were going ahead with implementation of the system and further explained that when it goes live, civil servants would not only be monitored daily but would individually be assigned targets to be reviewed twice per annum.
The system entails a proper matrix for the performance of each individual and department. It has also been greatly anticipated to put an end to absent supervisors who report for work in the morning and disappear or report late for work.
The controlling officer said after review, it would be determined whether each of the civil servants could perform as expected due to the lack of resources or capacity.
In the case a civil servant could not perform due to the lack of capacity and resources, they would be capacitated and also furnished with the required resources depending on the availability of funds.
However, in the case they do not deliver as expected because they were lax or unaccountable in the course of work, they would be hauled before a disciplinary hearing.
“In the spirit of inculcating a culture of excellence and accountability in the civil service, the PMS will go live at the beginning of April. We have already installed the system in 16 ministries in readiness for going live,” said Tsabedze.
The first phase of implementation involved three central agencies: being the ministry of public service, ministry of economic planning and development as well as the ministry of housing and urban development.
All three line ministries work hand in hand with the central agencies.
The ministry of housing and urban development was included because it houses the Eswatini Fire and Emergency Services Department.
Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, when unpacking PMS during its launch, explained that development of the system had been identified as one of the focal areas for the ministry as a strategy to inculcate a culture of service excellence in the public service.
He said the system was a diagnostic tool that could uncover the ills and shortcomings in the working systems of an organisation. Maseko expressed confidence that rollout of the system would greatly improve service delivery within the ministry.
PMS was described as a holistic process of tracking employee performance in a consistent and measurable approach intended at creating a work environment where civil servants perform to the best of their abilities.
The minister emphasised that as the country moves towards embracing the fourth industrial revolution, government had opted for an electronic version of the system, which went along with strategic priority number three of infrastructure, investment and innovation.
It was pointed out that after a situational analysis carried out within the public service, it had been uncovered that the current appraisal used by government had certain shortcomings.
These shortcomings included that the appraisal was subjective since the employee’s role was very minimal in the actual evaluation process.
“The appraisal does not provide for work planning, making it difficult for employees to know what is expected of them and how they would be evaluated at the end of the year,” said Maseko when launching the system.
He said the evaluation process had not been linked to ministerial strategies and employees worked on the basis of what was on their desks or what was assigned to them.
The minister stated that the appraisal was inconsistent mostly when there were vacancies that had to be filled or when the need for a promotion arises. Through the performance management tool, Maseko mentioned that it was highly anticipated that performance-related issues would be abated.
“This will be so because the PMS seeks to bring a state where an individual’s performance is informed by the ministerial strategic objectives and departmental work plans,” he said.
Through the system, Maseko said performance would be monitored all year round as opposed to once a year and that this would be made possible through the different stages of evaluation.
As a result of the system, the minister said there would be constant performance-related communication between employees and their supervisors throughout the year.
He said there would also be continuous performance development and improvement via an employee assistance programme.
The minister further stated that there would be a well-structured and properly aligned work process, to increase the synchronisation of work within departments and ministries.
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