Speech delivered by the MEC for Health and Welfare Mr. Seaparo Sekoati on the occasion of Departmental Service Excellence Awards Ceremony Piet joubert High School - Polokwane

05 November 2004

Programme Director
Colleagues in the Provincial Legislature
Executive Mayors, Mayors and Councillors Members of Hospital Boards, Clinic and Pension Committees
Government representatives
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is almost ten years since the inception of the new government, whose key strategic objective remains the creation of a united, non-racial and democratic country, an ideal of a caring society.

At the heart of this government’s policy implementation strategy is the creation and sustenance of a public service capable of creating, implementing and sustaining efforts and policies for a better life for all.

The development of progressive and practical policies aimed at realising meaningful improvement in the delivery of services to our people, especially those marginalized and disadvantaged has characterised the early years of our democratic government.

A critical element in the first years of the democratic government was the introduction of a new constitutional, legislative, and institutional framework.

The appropriateness of such a framework is critical to the success or failure of government in achieving its developmental objectives.

In this area, we can safely say that process has been successful. The playing has been levelled.

The intensity of this work has slowed down and the emphasis is shifting towards a much greater focus on matters of implementation of progressive policies, an area that is the concern of our public service.

One of the key challenges in this long road to accessible service delivery and improvement has been the ability of the public service to implement policies in the most effective, efficient and economic manner.

When we started, as a democratic government we were faced with enormous challenges. However, what we have achieved is remarkable. We remain confident that we shall overcome.

We have no doubt that over the past ten years the majority of you have often gone beyond the call of duty to provide services in a manner that meets and sometimes surpasses the public expectations. Despite all odds you remained committed and held steadfast to our vision and provided service with passion.

In this way you have been contributing towards the realisation of the practice and spirit of Batho Pele Principles.

Today we are gathered here to celebrate with you, your glorious achievement.

Through dedication to our communities you managed to go through our strongest test, the eye of the needle, for these prestigious awards.

Among us we have cross-sections of our community partners in service delivery, businesses and sponsors who are here to witness and join in the celebrations of your achievements.

Last year, our department became an overall winner of the prestigious Premier’s Service excellence Award, winning the Platinum Award.

This year, through our commitment to quality poverty alleviation projects, we became the overall winner during the National Community Builder of the Year Award ceremony.

In this regard we congratulate and honour the contribution being made by such people as Peggy Mkhonto of Titirheleni Vamanana Sand and Brick making project, Sabeth Makola of Moroba centre for the Blind and disabled, Maria Mmola of Modjadji poultry project.

These women and others have become an inspiration in our quest to build a better life for all our people.

Together with your colleagues in the public service, you understood not only the legacy of our past and the realities of the present, but also the kind of life the future should hold for our people.

We encourage you to remain symbols of hope to our people, so that together we can fulfil our mission of delivery of quality services to our people.

During the Batho Pele day, this year in Thohoyandou the department announced new set of service standards, tabled our citizen’s report and service delivery improvement plan.

We must display Batho Pele Principles, Service Standards, Patient’s Rights Charter, Rights of the Elderly and Children in all our institutions as a yardstick by which our people will measure our performance.

We call on everybody to redouble efforts and recommit ourselves to continuously improve service delivery.

Our set standards must not become empty promises but contract we enter with our people.

These awards that we are giving today should serve as a base and tool of improving and encouraging us to work beyond the call of duty.

They should serve to promote good governance and accountability, inculcating a spirit of sharing best practices and delivering excellent service in the department.

Through these awards we hope to promote individuals, teams and institutional excellence, professionalism, transparency and accountability.

It is the view of the department that our public servants, who will be receiving the awards today, have displayed innovation, produced results while reducing costs of service delivery and made a giant leap forward from red tapes to smart-tapes.

We urge all the sung and unsung heroes and heroines within the public service to improve and increase our responsiveness to the needs of our citizens, promoting equity and delivery of public service in a manner that emphasizes timeliness and courtesy.

There are those who are doing a very good and noble work but are not receiving awards.

We encourage them to continue with this work for overall development and fulfilment.

As part of awarding excellence, government has introduced performance bonuses linked to performance management systems.

Through this tool we hope to raise to higher levels our zeal and award those who are performing beyond their means.

We must ensure that our facilities and institutions have aspects that enhance clients’ satisfaction and willingness by the public to return for services, with confidence and trust.

In order to maximise positive outcomes, as the department we will continue to improve on our systems, actively searching for the root causes of problem, placing emphasis on preventing them. We need to unleash our creativity for the betterment of our communities.

Notwithstanding the importance of having dedicated public servants who are passionate and proud to serve, the department will ensure that our people as service delivery cadres are sufficiently empowered with appropriate tools, systems and knowledge in order to fulfil their mandate with confidence and ease.

We congratulate and further encourage all those who are receiving these awards to continue the good work and help those who still lack behind.

May you have much success always.

Thank you.

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