Swazi Observer

FULL STORY

PARTIAL LOCKDOWN:CIVIL SERVANTS TO BE REDUCED BY HALF

By NONDUDUZO KUNENE | 2020-03-26

GOVERNMENT has announced that with effect from Monday half the public service staff will work from home or in shifts.

The decision follows His Majesty the King’s directive for a partial lockdown in an effort to minimise the spread of the novel coronavirus which has five confirmed cases in the kingdom.

Minister of Public Service Christian Ntshangase yesterday disclosed that following the decision by authorities to invoke a nationwide partial lockdown, the ministry has deemed it prudent to issue another circular to operationalise the pronouncement within the civil service.

In that regard, Ntshangase said government has decided that the number of civil servants attending work each week be reduced by half.

The minister said some civil servants would be working from home while others would be at their duty stations.

He explained that the halving of civil servants on a rotational basis each week would be determined by principal secretaries and heads of departments of the various ministries.

The minister ackowledged that not all civil servants will be affected by the measures taken by government to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.

“All essential services within the civil service will not be affected by the attendance to work on rotational basis,” he said.

He said civil servants who will not be affected include Fire and Emergency Services, health services, meteorological services and security services.

Minister Ntshangase said all civil servants in these services were expected to be at work to provide assistance during the lockdown.

The minister said his ministry would issue a circular with full details on the issue before Monday.

Already about 13 000 of the public service personnel, which comprises of teachers are at home, with all schools, colleges and universities having closed last Wednesday.

The partial lockdown takes effect from tomorrow until April 16, where government would then make an assessment of the situation to either lift the lockdown or extend it.

share story