Francistown City Council has appointed a new Executive Driver following controversial interviews conducted by the Human Resource office a fortnight ago.
An Executive Driver’s responsibility is to chauffer the City Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Town Clerk and Deputy Town Clerk.
In a story ran by this publication (What’s in the driver’s seat-11th February), a number of disgruntled council drivers said they believed Management deliberately froze them out of the job by raising the requirements.
The drivers interviewed by The Voice said while the vacancy required someone with a light duty driving licence, the job advert invited suitors with a heavy duty licence, denying scores of drivers a shot at their dream job.
Most drivers wanted to know why candidates should have a heavy duty licence, to drive around in a BMW or Toyota Fortuner.
This led to most drivers believing that the conducted interviews was just a formality as management already had their preferred candidate (names withheld).
“Our suspicions were confirmed when the job was given to the person we’ve always suspected the ground was being prepared for,” said a disgruntled driver.
The Voice had earlier sent a questionnaire to the HR Office to get their side of the story, but they were yet to respond at the time the first story was published.
Among other enquiries, we had wanted to know what type of licence was needed for the job and why.
However, a response from the HR office arrived 14 days later in which they confirmed that the job requirements for an Executive Driver is a light duty driving licence.
The response states that the position fell vacant because the incumbent was re-designated upon his request to another department with the council at the end of last year.
Since then, an employee has been acting in the position, while recruitment was being done.
The response further states that the positions’ salary scale is B3 and since this is a promotional position, consideration was also given to applicants in the immediate lower grade of B4.
