Premier's Service Excellence Awards
26 November 2006
MECs
Provincial Director-General,
Heads of Department,
Chief executive officers of provincial agencies,
Judges for the Premier's Service Excellence Awards,
Distinguished guests,
We are meeting once again as we have done annually over the past five years
to honour and celebrate with those public servants who have gone beyond the
normal call of duty in their daily work to improve the lives of our people.
These are men and women who have shown initiative and have taken steps to
improve service delivery to the people of our province. They have not only
conducted themselves in an exemplary manner, they have taken to heart the theme
for this year's excellence awards, "Driving the services revolution to build
Gauteng as a global city region." Since MECs and senior management often join
in the celebrations, I must assume that they too make a contribution to the
successes of the teams.
Between last year's service excellence awards to today we have in addition
to the growth and development strategy (GDS) adopted the broad-based black
economic empowerment (BBBEE) strategy, integrated transport plan (ITP), Gauteng
safety plan, Gauteng road safety plan, 20 priority townships renewal strategy,
human resource development (HRD) strategy, Gauteng global city region strategy,
Gauteng social development strategy and the capacity and organisation of the
State strategy.
When we launched this strategy in August, we said we were signifying a
turning point and a new way of thinking about development in our province. We
also said to properly respond to our people's aspirations to escape from
poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment we have to consolidate Gauteng as an
integrated region where the economic activities of different parts of the
province complement each other to achieve sustainable shared growth and
development.
Given the centrality of public servants in development and service delivery,
it is clear that our ability to achieve all the above mentioned strategies
rests on our ability to reposition the public service to perform at higher
levels and with dedication.
The need to improve the efficiency and performance of government
institutions has been identified as an area requiring strategic and focused
intervention. The Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa
(AsgiSA), which is a set of interventions across all spheres of government to
serve as a catalyst for accelerated and shared growth, also highlights the need
for better public service management and responsiveness to public needs.
Improving the efficiency and performance of government is therefore an
essential prerequisite in achieving our objectives. While there is a lot we can
be proud of, we also know that in certain areas, Gauteng residents are not
fully satisfied with the current pace and quality of delivery. They don't only
demand accelerated delivery at a faster pace they also want quality service
delivered with a humane face and in a caring manner. To respond effectively and
in a sustainable manner to these challenges requires that we review the
capacity and organisation of the State. I hope that by the opening of the
legislature the Heads of Department (HODs) forum and the executive will have
finalised the strategy with implementation plans.
When we speak about the capacity of the State we are not just talking about
sending people on more training courses. We are speaking about finding better,
credible and sustainable ways of improving quality service delivery. We are
also talking about innovation in the public sector and collaboration with the
private sector and communities to accelerate improvements in the lives of
people of our province.
This goes beyond simple adherence to and promotion of the Batho Pele
Principles. It is a services revolution that aims to achieve greater
responsiveness to the needs of the people, a reduction in the cost of doing
business, unnecessary bureaucracy and shared growth and development.
This approach requires public service employees to break away from the silos
they have always worked in and embrace collaboration and integration of work
across the systems and processes. This will create seamless government whose
aim is to effectively service citizens in an integrated, cost effective and
efficient manner.
Embracing innovation with emphasis on constant change and rapid response
mechanisms is the only sure way that can help us to elevate our performance and
impact.
The awards we are giving out today are therefore a confirmation that indeed
we have people who are ready and willing to take our performance to a higher
level and to champion a new way to doing business.
The recipients of these awards have consciously applied themselves to
achieving excellence by being motivated by a desire to find solutions to the
obstacles they experienced in the working environment, to improve the
performance of their colleagues and ensure improved delivery of services to
their citizens.
By receiving your rewards today you have made the choice of excellence over
mediocrity. I hope that you will carry that choice into your future and help
shape this remarkable province of ours into a thriving and global competitive
city region.
Allow me, therefore, to congratulate all the finalists for working in a
manner that caught the eye of the community and our judges.
The journey we are have started to reposition our province into a globally
competitive city region will be an immensely challenging and exciting one. It
will be an unparalleled learning experience and bring about change which will
put us up there with the best that the world has to offer.
Work done thus far shows that it is possible for us to make Gauteng an even
better place to live in. It is, however, dependent on the partnership we can
forge between the executive, the public service, the private sector and
communities.
Together with our employees and their trade unions we need to look at how we
take forward the resolutions of the public sector summit especially those
concerned with improvement of quality service delivery.
I thank you!
Issued by: Gauteng Provincial Government
26 November 2006
Source: SAPA
