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MBABANE – Government will reintroduce a bicycle allowance for assistant veterinary officers (bomadibhane), as a means of responding to the transport challenges faced by these civil servants.

The reintroduction of the bicycle allowance or motorcycle allowance comes after Members of Parliament (MPs), during the annual performance report and budget debate by the House of Assembly Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, raised concerns about the welfare of bamadibhane.

During the debate, the MPs accused government of neglecting them (bomadibhane) and agricultural field officers.

They alleged that these officers did not have transport and accommodation.

Ndzingeni MP Gcina Magagula said field officers were struggling to get to the people and conduct inspections, because they did not have cars.

The legislator said the minister should ensure or show them if he had planned to buy cars for these officers in the budget.

Women

MP Chief Ngalonkhulu Mabuza stated that these officers woke up as early as 3am and walked to dip tanks. The MP said some of these officers were women.

Maseyisini MP Nokuthula Dlamini added that she once came across one officer who was walking to work during the early hours of the morning.

The MP said the ministry should provide transport for these officers, because their lives were endangered.

Nkomiyahlaba MP Mduduzi Dlamini also stated that the ministry neglected bomadibhane. The MP said in his constituency, bomadibhane and field officers’ houses were neglected, to the e[tent that certain people, whom he referred to as tigora, had hijacked the houses. He also added that transport for these officers was a nightmare, yet they started working during odd hours.

In the written responses by the Minister of Agriculture, Mandla Tshauka, that were tabled in Parliament, the challenges faced by these officers were acknowledged.

“The ministry is equally concerned with the challenges of welfare for veterinary assistants,” he said in the written responses.

The minister mentioned several interventions that they were preparing, to sort out the transportation and housing issues of these officers.

Among the interventions that were listed in the responses was the reintroduction of a bicycle allowance or better.

Negotiating

“We are negotiating with government central agencies for better salaries and reintroduction of better bicycle allowance or change to appropriate motorcycle or car allowance,” he said.

To curb the housing issue, the minister said they encouraged government to consider paying better housing allowances and other conditions of service.

It was noted that the Ministry of Agriculture, after noting the hardships that these officers worked under, it approved a hardship allowance.

However, after forwarding the proposal to the Ministry of Public Service, they were told that government did not have enough funds to cater for the hardship allowances.

Coming to the issue of housing, the minister stated that the ministry was aware of the challenges of maintaining houses, which were previously stated by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

“Currently, the Ministry has limited budget for maintenance of the houses,” he said.

The minister added that they were privy to information that suggested that bomadibhane moved out of houses but some moved out for the reasons like staying home and neglecting those government houses.