The public service is the backbone of any country’s governance and development, ensuring that essential services are delivered effectively to citizens. It plays a vital role in maintaining the trust of the public, fostering economic growth, and ensuring that government functions are executed with integrity, transparency, and accountability. A well-managed public service is crucial for upholding the values of good governance, and it sets the standard for ethical leadership and efficient service delivery.
In an exclusive interview with Public Sector Global Magazine, Ms. Gaone Manzini, Director of the Directorate of Public Service Management in Botswana, sheds light on how the country’s public service sector instills and upholds a strong ethical foundation. With a focus on integrity, accountability, and customer responsiveness, she discusses the mechanisms in place to ensure that the public service continues to deliver high-quality services to the citizens of Botswana. Excerpts…………….
How would you describe your tenure so far? What has been your most impactful contribution to improving public service delivery?
In terms of my impact, I would say engagement and strategy/people management-. I strongly believe in engagement. So, what I have done is to make sure that I engage with the public service at large. And this has spread all over the country, most impactful platforms are outside the norm. I know most people go through the social media networks, but I decided to use radio and TV. So, I have set up a program where I speak to the public and update the public servants around things that we do. And that in terms of delivery, I have made them understand what is expected of them. Secondly; strategy and the promises that we made, especially around people management. What I realized is, if you agree on things with the trade unions as our social partners and you don’t implement them, as a leader you are only contributing to low morale and post-service delivery. So, I have taken time, of course with my team, to engage very seriously and thoroughly with the trade unions to make sure that we set a trajectory to implement all the things that we have promised and agreed with.
When you say trade union and promises made, are you referring to reforms and renumeration?
Yes, exactly that. Reforms and remuneration. Most especially for trade unions, these are things related to the welfare of the employees. So what I have seen is that if you don’t take care of the welfare of the employees and you expect them to work with all that energy, it’ll just be a myth. So, it’s important to do your part as a leader so that they can do their part as well.
So, in other words, can we say in Botswana incentives are high for public and civil servants?
Yes, they are high enough. We can’t say too high. Our minimum salary is around P 2500, which is a little above $200 a month, And of course, most of people have worked in the public service for a lot longer. So, it’s not like they’re earning at the bare minimum. Most of them have already gone past the P 2,500 mark. So yes, we would wish to be much higher. The reason why I mention it is that generally public service pays lower than the private sector in the market. So that’s why for us it has been a very big achievement because we focused on making sure that our low-level employees or maybe those who are doing the jobs that matter but are not skilled are also the happiest.
What are some of the initiatives you have spearheaded to ensure continuous professional development for workers in the public service?
There are several things that we do. We have a policy on training, learning and development. That one focuses on several things. Full-time education, if I were to say that, full-time I’m just using my words here. But this means that when you are an employee of government, you can apply for scholarships that are available that we have from our partners in other countries like China, Japan and other countries as well. So, you can apply for that scholarship or you can develop yourself. In Botswana, we have so many universities. So, a very good number of our employees apply to go and develop themselves. And then of course the third leg is really about getting competence. We have the public sector or the public service college where people go there for training. So those are the initiatives that we have put in place to make sure that there is continuous development for public sector employees. And Botswana generally love education. So, everyone is educated. But it doesn’t end there. We also want education alongside skill and competence. And education is free. It’s free all the way to tertiary from primary, high school and tertiary. The government pays for you 100% but at tertiary of course, it’s a loan where you get a loan and when you finish you pay it back. But if you are a top achiever, those ones can apply for a grant, and the government sponsors as long as you meet the requirements for the grant.
How do you instill and maintain a culture of integrity, transparency and accountability within your team and across departments?
We have what is called the public service charter and then we also have what is called the 10-point agenda. Those are the things that speak to the 10 things being known for. They include integrity, they include accountability, they include response to the customer, they also include things related to what I can call speed of execution, talking about promptness in service delivery. So, these are the things we talk about especially when we go around or when I go around during the national tour, they become the core of my discussion. Of course, it’s not because I do it to emphasize, but it is every leader’s responsibility to make sure that they constantly remind employees around these core values in the public sector. And then of course there are other systems that we have put in place to help us traverse that journey of accountability and integrity. We have systems and programs that are related to anti-corruption. We have anti-corruption units. We also have units that ensure accountability, transformation, those who measure our results, those who measure and help us communicate the results on an ongoing basis. So those are the things that we do to make sure that there is what you call accountability across all departments. But not for the sake of accountability, but for the sake of delivery.
How have you leveraged technology to transform public service management?
Yes, this one is a continuous journey.So, we do realize that a lot of things have been manual and we’re leveraging on technology. And we have in place systems that help us. For example, the leave application process used to be very manual. And we have digitized it. The world out there, the private sector had long digitized it. Through our ERP or the enterprise system that we have, we make sure that we digitize that process. Pay slips, we used to have pay slips floating around on paper, now they just send on email. So, it’s those kinds of things and we’re on the journey to have more and more of those digitized.
What is your employment process like? Is it still manual or it’s been digitized?
It’s partly manual and partly digital, in the near future, everything will be digital. We believe we will be somewhere. We will at least have gone many miles, even if it’s not completely 100% digitized, but I believe we would have gone far.
In what ways have you ensured your leadership approach promotes diversity and inclusion within the public service?
Yes, that’s a very good one. Systems and processes, country-wise allow us or encourage us to look at diversity. For example, employment of the disabled. We are very deliberate around making sure that we include them in our processes. Actually, we give them special priority. Yes, so if one, like Albinos or other people that have different types of disability, they come and register at the disability office and they get referred to us, we give them higher priority.
What are some of the challenges you face on a day to day as a leader?
Day to day as a leader, one of the challenges is to keep people motivated to deliver speedily. Government is known to deliver very slowly. So for me it’s really a challenge because I believe that as leaders and especially myself, I preach speed of execution and because our processes tend to be long-winded, they seem to work against speed of execution and it leads me processes really quickly as something that must happen and happen on an ongoing basis to make sure that any time you meet a bottleneck, the system allows you to also review and remove this bottleneck quickly. And then of course, thirdly, making sure that the people I lead by the same vision are driven to deliver at that level. And then next one being as a small population, for example, and with all these freebies that we give, sometimes people have an entitlement mentality that says, if I’ve got free education, I must get free this, this must happen. So, it’s a challenge because there’s a point where one has to say, now I take responsibility upon myself to make things happen. That’s why as a nation, we are driving this big pillar of mindset change in how we look at things and that we should change to take ourselves to the next level. And we are saying what we did to get here is not necessarily what we will need to do to get to this level that we deliver, I mean that we wish to deliver through our vision 2036. So, we believe that a mindset change is something that must happen and that’s what I live by as a leader.
What is like being a female leader in Botswana?
Botswana is hungry to have women in leadership. However, when it’s a woman, the first question asked is her level of competence. A woman has to prove her level of resilience and competence. In terms of administrative leadership, women have made a very big breakthrough in this country, however, we are still lacking very seriously in political representation. I suppose because it’s a different world there. But I believe in the next years, or in the years to come, the same way we are making a very big breakthrough in executive roles, might be the same way we will be able to do it even in politics.
As you look toward the future, what legacy would you love to leave?
Oh yeah. In terms of my legacy, I’d like to leave a public service that understands service delivery to the core, their hearts to work for this nation from inside, driven from inside, not driven by money or benefits. Yes, not that we don’t need them, but I’ve learned that in life, money doesn’t come first. It’s the other things that make you happy that come first. So, I wish to leave a public service that thinks like that. And then secondly, a public service that cares about its country an where it’s going to be in the next 500 years. So, I’d like to leave a public service that doesn’t think about the now only, but thinks about the impact of their decisions in the next 500 years or 200 at least. And then thirdly, to leave a public service in terms of system that has embedded a mentorship system that works. What I see and have just started as part of my reforms is to put in one that makes sure that new leaders are actually assisted by what I call the show and tell. Those who have done it show others how to do it and show them how to do it well. Because we didn’t have much of that, the new leaders that we put in place or that we appoint sometimes really need help to change things because the winds of change that we are now facing are a lot more rigorous and stronger than when our older leaders were in their seats. So, things have changed. So, mentorship for me can be more important. So, if I can have those three things in place, then I know the country will be in good hands.
How would you describe yourself?
I describe myself as a transformational leader. I like transformation and I believe we have opportunities to transform the public service, transform the nation. And secondly, I also believe I’m a visionary leader. I like to think ahead. I like to see us doing better. I like to see us achieving even bigger than what we think is possible because it is. And then I’m also a very engaging leader, getting involved to show others how to do it or sometimes to also demonstrate that it’s not about positions we all come from somewhere and every once in a while, it’s important to go down there and work with them and show them how it’s done. I think I’m a very passionate person. And yes, I don’t lack energy at all. I’m highly energetic and I wish to believe that my energy is contagious. And I also am quite honestly driven by things that work. So as a person, I like to see things happen. Yes, so that drives me. So, if things can’t happen, I make them happen.
What are some of the things that have brought you this far?
Humility. Yes, I’ll put it above everything else because humility as a leader for me has been important since I have been able to learn from those who don’t think are teaching me and those who know they are teaching me. I have been open to learn from others the same whole way through. And then secondly, humility to also by listening to your leaders and by following their vision. For you to be able to lead, you must also be a strong follower. It starts with the ability to follow. So, I believe that I have had what it takes to follow others by their vision and implement it with a lot of energy. Then I have been trusted to lead. And then thirdly, continuous learning. I think it’s the same as humility, but learning from others. But knowing that, I don’t know it all. Trusting that I need to surround myself with people that will boldly show me and tell me when things are not going right, and also boldly innovate around me so that things can go to the next level. And then lastly, helping others not keeping it all to myself when I see that this one can do it, help them and lift them. And I think that lifting is what has brought me here.
Lastly, how did you feel winning your award at APSCA?
It was absolutely a big surprise. I was quite surprised that I was also among the winners. I felt recognized. I also felt that was really very relevant. It wasn’t just trumped up. And together with my team, it felt like it looked at all the things that we are doing to bring change and transformation. Thank you for the award. What an honor. Thank you.
