Ladies and gentlemen, my staff and I have had an incredulously hectic two weeks and it was with incredible relief that we cleared our work space today to come and join you this evening. Until I came across this note amongst the debris of the two weeks hurricane we had left behind. Clearly a note of one employee to another.
I quote. “I have such a terrible boss that I have taken to absenting myself from work and I called in to explain that I have women problems. The women problem is the boss.”
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Member of the Executive Counsels,
Mrs Machabane, Lesotho DG for Ministry of Public Service,
Chairperson and members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration,
Commissioners of the Public Service Commission,
Executive Mayors,
Directors-General and Heads of Department,
Chief Executive Officers,
Members of the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council,
Panel of adjudicators,
Sponsors – Capitec, GEMS, Mustek, Sita,
2013 National Batho Pele Awards finalists,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
These awards happen at a time in our calendar where, with elections a few months away, that which seems to consume the public domain is that which we have not done right, and what consumes our people is frustration at delivery of services.
These are pretty natural landscapes, drawn on this picture of us in the public service and we persevere against the negative backdrop, doing the best we can, making sure that identity documents are issued on time, so that our people can apply for their social grants, and two days after the application, the grant is issued. Our successes are enormous and our achievements yet to be properly recorded.
What is not of any doubt in any sane person’s mind is that today is a far far better place than this day twenty years ago. What is not of any doubt in any sane person’s mind is that most of this has been made possible because those people charged with the responsibility to deliver government services are mostly hard at work. And even more significantly, a great many of them do what they do with a passion and dedication that should make South Africa proud.
Today we take time to honour these people who work hard to make our lives better. In honour of those who toil with dedication to serve our people, we have established this Public Service Excellence Awards, called the Batho Pele Excellence Awards.
The National Batho Pele Excellence Awards will henceforth be held for the entire Public Service in the month of September of each year and members of the public will be invited to nominate public servants deserving of recognition for excellent service.
The main focus of these awards is to recognise excellence in the public service, acknowledge and encourage it and in exceptional cases, ensure that we can urge and mature it to greater heights of delivery.
The future of this country is intrinsically linked to whether we succeed or not in repositioning the public service. The National Development Plan has been bold to suggest that unless we fix the public service, all our objectives, all our hopes and all our plans would come to nothing.
It is worth repeating over and over, so that we, who are in the public service understand our centrality, the public service is the engine of the state. It is worth repeating also because the public service needs to understand that if the engine is not performing optimally, the state cannot deliver as fast as it should.
This is our first attempt to acknowledge our achievements and those who made it possible for us to achieve them. By next year and the year after, it will be the event that all public servants will look forward to as a pinnacle of their calendar.
Today we wish to convey to the recipients of these awards which will be bestowed, our sincere and thorough appreciation of their outstanding service and fortitude at the service of their nation. We hope these awards will serve as greater motivation for others.
We will institutionalise this day in appreciation of those such as the ones we will have today, who will have shown diligence of exceeding limits in the discharge of their duties. Because we recognise that they are the embodiments of our people’s aspirations. We hold them aloft in full public gaze as the shining examples of public service cadres who have laboured assiduously to provide quality public service to our people:
- In our hospitals
- In our schools
- In our ports of entry
- In our offices
- And out on the streets.
They are indeed worthy of the advance in confidence that we will so consciously place upon tonight.
We launched the Public Service Charter on 30 August 2013 and made a commitment made by both the labour unions in the PSCBC and government as the employer. This is a historic commitment that binds all of us to agreed principles because of our collective belief that our people come first.
For the first time, we agreed with labour on what our respective roles and responsibilities ought to be as we collectively advance service delivery improvement. Through the Charter, both labour and ourselves have bound ourselves to working towards the progressive realisation of a professional, efficient public service.
If I had it my way, I would have right away nominated, adjudicated and awarded the highest honour of Bravery and Commitment to the country, to the Public Service Labour Unions for their understanding and dedication. Unfortunately the professional nature of our relationship does not allow for such gestures that might be seen as patronising.
But on an occasion like this, please allow me to reiterate our collective gratitude for their continued cooperation and our wish that long may this cooperation live. It has been good for the country. It is good for the country.
Every public servant will sign a contract, based on the Service Charter principles and values and will be asses on how they have advanced these principles, to ensure that the Batho culture becomes the public service organisational culture.
We hope that the School of Government will distinguish itself from previous academies by providing training and development programmes that emphasis commitment to excellence in the provision of quality services to all citizens, instil the spirit of patriotism and responsive to the work demands of government.
Through this event, we are given the opportunity to learn and share best practices, reward good performance and gauge the citizen’s satisfaction levels in relation to government’s performance and at the same time raise awareness of the work we do and the efforts we put into it.
As has been explained to you and it merits repeating, the main objectives of the National Batho Pele Excellence Awards therefore, are to:
- Showcase and reward public servants for excellent service, recognising best practices in implementing the Service Charter and Batho Pele Principles and programmes, recognising the link between this and leadership and management commitment, integrity and self-sacrifice in providing quality and effective services to the citizens;
- Promote a new culture of professionalism, dedication, integrity and effective service;
- Encourage continuous delivery of quality services that are responsive to the people’s needs;
- Establish an open platform for the public servants and the citizens in general to gauge government’s performance in rendering quality and better services; and
- Facilitate a culture of continuous improvement, innovation and excellence in the public service.
Both the public servants and the public were called upon to nominate the best performer from a variety of categories ranging from the Most Outstanding Head of Department at both national and provincial levels, the Best Public Service Institution (National/Provincial) of the year, the Frontline Service Delivery Employee of the Year, the Most Improved Government Department or the best Implemented Programme or Project implemented that had a bearing on advancing service delivery improvement, etc.
There are 14 categories for nomination. A panel of adjudicators has assured me that they could outdo the IEC in their processes and objectivity. No one would find fault, nor cry foul, nor report us to the Public Protector.
They believe that both the nominees and general public will agree we have sought and found the best within the time available. Importantly, I have been assured that no one who bears my name was nominated, nor chosen for any award. And just when I heaved a sigh of relieve that we would not be accused of nepotism, they explain that Lindiwe Mazibuko would not be walking up to the stage.
Finally, I just want to share with you well-worn wisdom of an ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius. In discussions with a Minister of Government in the year 492 BC – before the time when government Ministers had enormous arbitrary powers of life and death. The Minister had been bogged down and depressed by the pace of change among government officials and was inclined to be attracted to short term solutions.
“Why not use the death penalty to speed up moral and other reforms in the public service”, he asked. And Confucius answered “In administering your government, what need is there to kill. Just desire the good and the people shall follow. The value of good men is like the wind. The virtue of a small minded man, such as the ones who are depressing you, is like grass. Let the wind blow over and the grass is sure to bend.”
Let the recipients of these awards be like the wind, that even the grass would envy them and bend to follow their example.
I thank you!
