Premier Chupu Mathabatha: Provincial Batho-Pele Day celebrations

Address by the Premier of Limpopo Mr Chupu Mathabatha on the occasion of  the Provincial Batho-Pele Day Celebrations held at Blouberg Municipality

Programme director,
Our MECs who are present here, Our Mayor, Cllr Solomon Pheedi, All our councillors,
Traditional leadership,
Heads of our Provincial Departments, Members of the Media,
Ladies and gentlemen:

Good morning! Avuxeni, Thobela, Ndaa!

Let me start by thanking you the people of Blouberg for responding so well to our invitation to celebrate this important Batho Pele day with us.

We have come here to celebrate with you, the people of Taaibosch. Batho Pele day is one of the most important days in the calendar of Public Service.

When we talk Batho Pele we talk about principles that originate from our constitution.

These are the principles that guide those of us in government on how to relate with members of the Public and how to utilise the resources of government.

These are very important principles that all government employees must know. It is also important that even yourselves as members of the public are aware of these principles. If you don’t know these principles you will not know what you can expect from a government institution. When you know these principles, you will be able to demand that you be treated with consideration and courtesy. You will be able to demand redress where you have been wronged by government officials or government itself.

Programme Director;

The constitutional principles that have guided the introduction of Batho Pele Principles are:

  • The promotion and maintenance of high standard of professional ethics;
  •  Ensuring that services are provided impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias;
  • Ensuring that resources are utilised efficiently, economically and effectively;
  •  Ensuring that the public is encouraged to participate in policy-making; and that
  •  Public Service is accountable, transparent and development- oriented.

Batho Pele principles are about putting people first in everything we do in public service.

When we talk of Batho Pele Principles we talk of principles that require public servants to be polite, open and transparent and to deliver good service to the public.

These principles are 8 in number and they are:

  •  Consultation
  •  Service Standards
  •  Courtesy
  •  Access
  •  Information
  •  Openness and Transparency
  •  Dealing with complaints
  •  Giving Best Value

Consultation is about asking our customers what they want and finding out how we can best meet their needs. It's  important to consult as many of our customers as we can and to use the information we receive to help improve our service to them.

Service Standards says to us as government that we should continually try to improve the service we give. We should also be able to measure these standards so that everyone can see if they are being met.

The principle of Access applies especially to the previously disadvantaged sectors of the community and to people with special needs like people living with disabilities.

The principle of Courtesy is not only being polite to customers, but being friendly, helpful and treating everyone with dignity and respect.

Information is about reaching all our customers to make sure they are well informed about the services of government.

The principle of Openness and Transparency encourages government to be open and honest about every aspect of our work.

Redress is making it easy for people to tell us they are unhappy with our service.  Where we have made mistakes as government we should apologise and fix the problem right as quickly as possible.

Programme Director;

These principles are very important. It is for this reason that no one can be employed in government if he or she does not know about Batho Pele. Because we want government employees to always put People First.

Everyone in government is expected to eternalize these principles.

These principles are the life-blood of our public service; they guide how we do our job in government and how we interact with you as members of the public. The motivating idea around Batho Pele principles is that those who are privileged to be part of our public service must at all material times ensure that they put our people first. All government employees are public servants, their most fundamental duty is to serve you and not their personal interests. It is for this reason that the government has put in place both legislative and institutional mechanisms  to  ensure  that whenever a conflict of interest arises, a public servant should be able to excuse himself or herself so that the interest of the public is not compromised by a personal interest. Those who fail to excuse themselves and proceed to work in a way that advances personal interest will continue and are indeed facing consequences for not putting people first.

We have also put other measures in place to ensure that members of the public who feel that they have not been treated in accordance with the dictates of Batho Pele are able to find necessary redress. For as long as this government remain in power, our people will and should always come first.

Programme Director;

I am  confident that everyone today knows about Batho-Pele. Today you all know that you have a right to be treated with courtesy, the right  to be given information about government programmes, the right to be provided with quality services, and the right to an apology were you have been wronged by government. These principles do not only apply to government departments; they apply to municipalities, clinics, hospitals, schools and all government entities.

It is also important that as a public you should also know who served you at any government institution. That is why provincial executive council recommended and approved the wearing of name tags at any public institution by all civil servants. This will assist you in identifying any civil servant that served you with dignity so that they could be incentivised. It will  also help in identifying a few rogue and  rotten  apples within our system. I therefore urge all of us to go and  learn  more  about  these Batho Pele principles so that you can be an empowered citizen.

I thank you!

Province

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