Remarks of the Minister for the Public Service and Administration Ms Faith Muthambi, MP, at the Ministerial Imbizo, Virginia, Matjhabeng Local Municipality, Free State
Premier of Free State Province
Members of the Executive Council
Mayor of Matjhabeng Local Municipality
Councillors
Senior Managers present
Our esteemed guests - the Community of Matjhabeng Local Municipality
We are honoured to be in your community today as part of Government’s Imibizo Focus week. The purpose of this Imbizo is for us to gain first-hand experience and information about how government provides services to you as the community.
We are extremely pleased that the Premier of the Free State Province Mr Ace Magashule was with us today as we joined you to address some of the service delivery challenges in this community
We have identified some shortcomings which impact on service delivery and we will hold discussions with the provincial government and the local municipality to come up with mechanisms to address these shortcomings.
Ladies and gentlemen:
We had an opportunity to visit Virginia Correctional Centre, Katleho hospital and Meloding Police Station. We have identified the common thread of challenges in these institutions which range from operational issues such queue management system to the security of these premises.
As much as government would like to provide you as the residents of Matjhabeng Local Municipality with efficient services, it is also the responsibility of government to ensure that public servants providing these services are provided with right tools and a conducive working environment. We would therefore look into these intertwined challenges and come up with solutions on how to address them.
As government, we commit to continue to provide better and improved services without fail. We need to make sure that public servants are capacitated to inform citizens in situations where services cannot be rendered within the reasonable time or as expected. We need to ensure that public servants have necessary tools, equipments and conducive environment to provide the community with a better service. Public servants will go a long way to improve the relationship between government and the community if they treat them with courtesy, in a professional manner and go an extra mile to serve the community. This is what Batho Pele is about – Putting People First.
We are a government that is guided by Batho Pele Principles when rendering services to our communities. The Batho Pele Principles are a blueprint of how we, as Government, should conduct ourselves when rendering services to you.
Ladies and gentlemen:
As the community of Matjhabeng Local Municipality, you should know that Batho Pele Principles require that:
- Government services should be Accessible.
- You should be Consulted about the kind of services and initiatives undertaken.
- You are provided with appropriate and relevant Information about the government services and opportunities in your area
- You are offered a Redress mechanism if you did not receive a service you expected.
- Public servants must always be Courteous to you when rendering services.
- Public servants should be Open and Transparent about how services are obtained and the costs involved.
- As a community, you should know the expected Service Standard you are supposed to be provided?
- Public servants should provide Value for Money for the service they render to you as a community.
Ladies and gentlemen:
The Community of Matjhabeng, yourselves, as citizens of our country, are also central to the service delivery success in your area. Your active participation in the decision-making process of government is central to the success of our country and maturity of our democracy.
As the Ministry for Public Service and Administration, we have ensured that some of the government departments that are key to your service delivery challenges are here today in your municipality to render services to you. Our job as public service is to provide quality services all the time in a humane and Batho Pele way.
In conclusion:
The community of Matjhabeng Local Municipality and the people of the Free State Province, we want to commit that we will be back again in three months to come and monitor progress made on our commitment to you. Let us work together to move our country forward, We Belong (to you), We Care (about you), We Serve (you).
I thank you.
