Programme Directors
Minister of Human Settlements, Hon Lindiwe Sisulu
Minister of Women, Hon Susan Shabangu
Deputy Minister of State Security, Hon Ellen Molekane
All MECs and MMCs of Human Settlements
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Hon Nocawe Mafu.
Chairperson of the Select Committee on Social Services, Hon Dlamini and honourable Members present
Acting Director-General of Human Settlements, Mr Mbulelo Tshangana
Chairpersons and CEOs of all Human Settlements institutions and agencies
Representatives of the Banking Association of South Africa
Honourable guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
I greet you all this evening.
The Govan Mbeki Awards is a prestigious ceremony hosted in all provinces and nationally by the Department of Human Settlements.
The awards seek to showcase and demonstrate excellent work done by the Department with special emphasis to the Department’s key outcome 8 programmes. They further, promote best practice, create a healthy competition among participating stakeholders. They are also used as a monitoring tool to ensure delivery of quality houses to the communities.
Secondly, the awards are meant to motivate all stakeholders in the built environment to harness their human and other resources in accelerating housing delivery. This is in line with the Breaking New Ground strategy of building integrated and sustainable human settlements. It also provides a choice of quality housing opportunities with secure of tenure and access to water and sanitation.
These awards were named after Govan Mbeki in 2006 based on the role he and his comrades played in bringing about this democracy.
The Govan Mbeki Awards consists of two stages of the competition. There are thirteen categories that compete at Provincial level and there are fifteen at National level.
Eight provinces hosted successful ceremonies between April and June 2015.
The provinces are expected to nominate applicants that have excelled in each of the Key Performance Areas to compete nationally.
The overall winners of each category in the Provincial competition proceed to participate in the National competition. The nominees went through an assessment process where information was verified and projects were visited. Further, the finalist went through the adjudication process where three finalists were selected in each category. The process was also subjected to both internal and external audits to ensure credibility of the processes.
Last year, the Minister included an additional category-the lifetime Achievement Award in honour of excellence and noteworthy contributions. This year, three people will be honoured for this prestigious award.
Ladies and gentlemen please note that the Department of Human Settlements will host the Govan Mbeki Golf Challenge tomorrow at the Atlantic Beach Golf Course, Cape Town. It’s a fundraising platform. Funds raised through this event will be used to build a home for children living with disability, an Aids Orphanage or a skills development centre for young people.
