The South African Police Service (SAPS) held the third Annual National Service Excellence Awards Ceremony on 11 March 2016 at the Sandton Convention Centre in recognition and honour of SAPS members, reservists and members of the Community Police Forums (CPF) who excelled and rendered distinguished service to the community.
The awards serve as motivation and appreciation to SAPS member’s efforts who relentlessly strive towards enhancing service delivery. The entrants and nominees showed exemplary dedication and commitment to their duties and contributed positively to service delivery.
Since the establishment of the awards in 2014, the awards have been a source of inspiration to our personnel and stakeholders, especially those who always go beyond the call of duty. The awards also allow for peers to exchange best practices and motivate each other to continue contributing positively towards delivering much improved policing services to the people of this country.
The SAPS is extremely proud of its personnel who albeit all the difficulties and complexities associated with their job, still manage to contribute towards the fight against crime and through their sterling efforts, great sacrifice and outstanding dedication – have been nominated to receive excellence awards.
Over and above the service excellence awards, SAPS also make use of the reward system to recognise acts of selflessness and bravery by its personnel with decorations, medals, monetary and non-monetary awards.
SAPS reward for excellence and acts of bravery also extends to the members of the public, who at the discretion of the organisation are rewarded and honoured for commitment and devotion in the fight against crime. The SAPS values the contribution of its personnel and the community in the fight against crime as such efforts will enhance SAPS’s image and reputation and serve as motivation to other members.
All police officials and civilian employees in administrative positions, operational positions and sporting codes are eligible for awards. There are also special categories that recognise people living with a disability, reservists and CPF members.
During his welcoming address Lieutenant General Phahlane said to all recipients: “You are our brightest stars, our top achievers and we are exceptionally proud of each and every one of you. Whether you take the top prize home tonight or not, you have proved your worth and we recognise and celebrate your selflessness, courage, loyalty, patriotism and tenacity. You epitomise what is expected of a police employee.”
He further urged all SAPS employees to continue to foster a culture of excellence in the SAPS through recognising, rewarding and motivating our most precious assets – our human resources and to continue to be ambassadors of the ‘Batho Pele’ and “Back to Basics principles.
