6 000 civil servants face axe

MASERU – THE government is on the verge of purging more than 6 000 workers who were illegally hired by the previous regime.

This week it axed 70 temporary workers at the Lesotho National Broadcasting Services.

Another 3 593 temporary employees at the Ministry of Home Affairs could face the chop. At a meeting earlier this month, the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Employment requested the

Ministry of Home Affairs to provide the employment details of the 3 593 temporary staff on its payroll.

The ministry wanted their names, titles, indemnity numbers, grades, qualifications, salaries, work stations, dates of engagement and contract duration.
thepost has been told that this could be part of the verification process that could lead to a mass termination.

The Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Employment had made a similar request to other ministries and departments in a January memo.

The memo said the government discovered that ministries and departments “have been appointing officers without following proper recruitment processes”.

“These are appointments that were not authorised by the relevant appointing authorities,” the memo said.

Senior government sources this week told thepost that preliminary inquiries have revealed that there could be more than 6 000 employees who were illegally hired by previous administrations.

Most of those people, sources said, were political party functionaries. A source said the government suspects that most of them were hired to non-existent positions and don’t have clear job descriptions.

A senior government official said some of the employees are not even based at the ministries paying their salaries.

“Those people are known and being paid but they are not working at the ministries or departments,” said the official.

“Some are doing other things for political parties but drawing salaries from the government. The total figure could be more than 6 000 but it could be much more.”

The illegally hired employees are however not part of the suspected hundreds of ghost workers that government employees are alleged to be using to siphon millions of maloti from state coffers.

The purge has triggered an uproar from some opposition parties that believe the government is targeting their members.

The government is however prodding ahead, insisting that it is cleaning up the civil service. The International Monetary Fund has repeatedly warned that Lesotho’s civil service bill is dangerously bloated.

Lesotho spends nearly M6 billion per year on wages, a quarter of the national budget.

That bill is beginning to choke the government which is already facing a cash crunch.

On March 9 the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Employment issued another memo reminding ministries and departments of the government moratorium on appointments, secondments and study leaves.

It said only critical positions will be filled but will need to be approved first.

Staff Reporter