Noma besidubula, besibulala,
Bethi asidilivi, siyile okhethweni.
Programme Director
The Head of the Department Mr BL Nkosi
Members of the Senior Management
Departmental staff
Journalists
Ladies and gentlemen
I greet you all.
It gives me pleasure to stand here today in such a joyous celebration of the outstanding performance by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Social Development which has been recognised by PMR.
Ladies and gentlemen, as SANLAM says Moving Forward,(sihlabela phambili) indeed we have done so. Most of you will witness me in that history has repeated itself.
On 3 November 2009, we were gathered at Newlands Park Centre to celebrate the reception of a platinum award for the outstanding performance by our department and today, in less than twenty four months after this recognition, we stand as undisputed champions of 3 medals which is 2 Diamonds and 1 Gold. It is also true that I was high on the national list as a visible MEC in service delivery.
It is a truth that cannot be denied that I have always emphasised the importance of adhering to our individual tasks rather than focussing on petty issues and internal bickering which would not assist us in the fullfilment of our goal as a department.
My experience tells me that no matter how people can drag and pull you down but if you stick to the right principles you will conquer and command respect even to your critics because results will show that you mean business.
Ladies and gentlemen, you will also recall how I have ensured that everybody towed the line which gave rise to the avoiding of disclaimers and qualified Auditor-General reports. I wish to thank all of you in this regard for your work in achieving the recent unqualified audit report which came as a surprise to most of us as we were still trying to close some gaps in our work, which means that we were very quick in this exercise.
Programme Director, you will remember that we have been the subjected of scathing attacks in some news sources where some of us were quoted as reliable sources within the department but whose names could not be divulged for fear of victimisation but inspite of all odds we managed to put our departmentn on the map by accomplishing the outstanding performance, which is the reason why we are gathered here this morning.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you three awards this morning on behalf of the whole department and KwaZulu-Natal Goverment. The categories are as follows:
1. Diamond for Government Departments doing the most for prosperity and growth.
2. Diamond for Departments that have been effective in achieving their goals.
3. Gold for Departments doing the most to eradicate poverty.
Ladies and gentlemen, I could not have accomplished this goal alone, but through cooperation with each one of you. In other words these medals are a symbol of a collective work as well as commitment for perfection from each one of you and your sub-ordinates who may not be present here today. Will you give yourselves a round of applause for that!!!!!!!.
May all of us work tirelessly to mantain the high standard we have set to do things the right way for the benefit of the poorest of the poor and better life for all.
Remember, together we can do more. I wish you all the best in your future efforts and looking forward to see more of these medals in the near future.
I thank you.
