Programme Director
MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison – Ms Radzilani
Executive Mayor of Polokwane Municipality – Mr Greaver
Capricorn Municipality Mayor – Mr Mapoulo
Provincial Commissioner of Limpopo– Lieutenant General Mpembe
Provincial Commissioner of Gauteng – Lieutenant General Petros
Deputy Provincial Commissioners, Senior Officers, Colleagues
Distinguished Guests
Good Evening ladies and gentlemen
“Believe you can and you are halfway there”. This was the philosophy of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt.
Each nominee for an award in this room obviously lives by that maxim – Believe in yourself and you are halfway there. Without self-belief you lack confidence, motivation and leadership. But with self-belief, you will venture into unknown territory; you will have the courage to turn your dreams into reality and you will go that extra mile to take others with you for the betterment of those around you.
Lieutenant General Mpembe, thank you for the invitation to share this wonderful evening with you, your personnel and the self-believers in the Province.
Today is the first day of the last month of the year. All schools throughout the country are already closed – or are on the brink of closing - for the year, and matriculants and graduates are eagerly awaiting their results.
While most people are winding down, we – the community in blue – are in full operational mode to protect the other communities while they relax, holiday, party and build their spiritual reserves to face 2013.
I know that the police officials have been working extra-hard over this past year and we all hope to see the positive results of their labour when we analyse the crime statistics for 2012/13. Limpopo undoubtedly suffered a setback in the previous financial year and, as my fellow-guest Lieutenant General Petros of Gauteng has publicly stated, a lot of that has to do with the displacement of criminals from that province to surrounding provinces. As your Gauteng colleagues’ crackdown on their most wanted criminals and gangs, unfortunately they flee to neighbouring provinces and continue with their crime sprees there.
The Limpopo Tracking Unit, which was recently formed, resourced and equipped, is taking great strides in tracing and arresting those hardened criminals who are contributing to making life difficult for the people of Limpopo. As the Duty Calls Festive Season operations - which were launched in this province just weeks ago – continue, the Tracking Unit, Visible Police members, Detectives and all specialised units must up their game and crack down on the lawless and corrupt.
The Prestige Awards are Provincial and National managements way of saying “Thank you” and “Well Done” to those members and units who have performed extraordinary duties, have excelled, have achieved policing successes which exceeded what was expected of them.
We all have a basic desire to be acknowledged. Even when we perform tasks from the heart, when we do not shout our achievements from the rooftops or brag to all and sundry, when we prefer to remain in the background rather than bask in the limelight. Even then, it is humanly natural to be even more motivated and inspired when our deeds receive acknowledgement and a word of thanks.
Unfortunately in our profession, we are just seen as men and women in blue who are doing what we are supposed to do. We are often dealing with victims and their families, who are so traumatised that saying thank you to the first person to assist and console them is, basically, the last thing on their minds.
We sometimes deal with a media, political or community environment which is hostile – sometimes due to misperceptions or because they paint the entire police service with the same brush that they paint the individual police official who has been corrupt, behaved inappropriately or committed a crime. Although many of our citizens take pride in their police, are grateful for the good work and admire and respect us, they often do not have the platform to express their thanks. For this reason, the Prestige Awards are held, to speak on behalf of those citizens and on behalf of all of our police families.
To each nominee in every category - congratulations. You have lived up to the police Code of Conduct, you have performed your duties diligently and loyally, you have been seen by Provincial SAPS management as police stars. Whether you are here in the operational, support or management category, you have contributed so significantly to improving law enforcement in your Province that your commanders have recognised your efforts and put your name forward for an award.
To the winners in each category, your efforts in endeavoring to make all citizens of Limpopo are and feel safe have been acknowledged and rewarded. Thank you for your selfless efforts. Thank you for believing in yourself, for believing in your colleagues and commanders and thank you for believing in your God to guide and protect you. May you be blessed.
It is heart-warming to note that all achievers in the Province were included – as well as sports achievers, the disabled employees and women. Well done to each and every one of you.
I would also like to congratulate those who received 20 and 30 years medals for faithful service. To dedicate decades to serving others is an admirable feat and you and your families have every reason to be proud of this accomplishment. Wear your medals with pride.
I would like to end off with a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of the 26th President of the US: “Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong”. I believe all medal and award recipients have done their work without fear, with courage to try and fail rather than not try at all.
