Programme directors
Our guest speaker
The management and staff of Tru FM
Recipients of the awards
Panel of judges and assessors
Government officials from various departments
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Let me first take this opportunity to greet all the people of the Eastern Cape, who are listening to this live broadcast of our inaugural Balasela Awards on Tru FM.
Today we are closing our 2009 October Transport Month campaign in style by honouring men and women, who had defied all odds and limitations to change the living conditions of the people of the Eastern Cape and ensure quality service delivery through transportation excellence. I must admit that we had a long and successful campaign this month, where we reached out to our people to showcase:
* the achievements of the transport sector
* the progress that we have made in infrastructure development based service delivery that enhances economic growth, rural and social development
* our readiness for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
My sincere gratitude goes to all officials, who were involved in the preparations of the campaign led by the Director of Communications, Mr Ncedo Kumbaca. The public service is an institution that is notorious about officials, who are doing as little as possible, but want to get paid as much as possible. It is an institution, especially in this province, that is perceived as corrupt and lacking vision.
Despite all the negative perception against us, we still have some officials who continue to make us proud and it is our responsibility as government to honour them. In this province, we have the Premier’s Balasela Awards, which are given to various institutions that have performed beyond expectation in pursuit of the achievement of the provincial growth and development plan objectives.
Today, we are showing our sincere appreciation to the Department of Transport officials, who have gone an extra mile in the delivery of services to the people of the Eastern Cape by giving those awards in honour of their excellent work and contribution to the reconstruction and development of our country. We have decided to retain the name of these awards to remain the Balasela Awards. Balasela is an isiXhosa word that signifies excellence.
Earlier this year, this department scooped seven Premier’s Balasela Awards for the:
* Sakha Isizwe Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Community-Based Transportation Household Contractors programme (gold)
* Kei Rail project (silver)
* Bhisho Airport (silver)
* Road Safety schools debate (bronze)
* Ngcingcinikhwe Access Road project (bronze)
* Department’s award for accelerating the modernisation of government process through the Balasela programme (bronze)
* Mr Thabo Cweba, Director; Organisational Development, for successful implementation of the Balasela programme in the Department of Roads and Transport
This clearly demonstrated our ability to undertake our tasks and despite the limited resources, we managed to perform with excellence and beyond reasonable expectation. From our point of view, excellence is not a matter of ability, knowledge, or practice. It cannot be taught, imposed, or wished into existence. It is a matter of who we are and the stand we take a stand that allows for performance that surpasses what was previously possible, performance that defies old limits and maps new territory.
Some of you would recall that when I rejoined this department after the 2009 general election, I challenged all of you to work together in order to make this department not one of the best, but “the best” in the province. That challenge still remains!
We have a collective obligation of ensuring that this department is responsive to the needs of the people of the Eastern Cape, especially the rural poor, and our view shall be consistent with the adopted approach of the new government, which include a few non-negotiable principles such as:
* providing principled leadership and making the tough decisions that may be required to deliver on our mandate
* strengthening our ability to cooperate across the three levels of government and work as a single delivery machine
* building a partnership between government and civil society so that we work together to achieve our goal of a better life
* being completely transparent with each other. We must claim no easy victories, just tell the truth and build on what we have achieved
* recognising that there will always be limited funding and resources and yet be willing to commit to doing more with less and doing it on time
* developing a skilled and well motivated public service that is proud of what it does and receives full recognition for delivering better quality services.
As the department, we can only be able to ensure quality service delivery through transportation excellence if our human resource machinery is well oiled to undertake such a mammoth task. In fact, skills development is one our of provincial government’s strategic priorities, which we are all expected to respond to. This necessitates the development of a clear plan to continuously capacitate ourselves in order to:
* Sustain our good service delivery record and be a shining example to other government departments
* Promote excellent performance
* Fulfil our obligation of restoring the confidence of our people in their government and continue to work together with our people to build a province and a country that we can all look at with hope, pride and encouragement.
We believe that these awards will help us in creating a new culture of departmental excellence to enhance overall competitiveness and promote the well being (quality of life) of all the citizens of the Eastern Cape in line with the priorities of the developmental sate. We are convinced that these awards will serve as a yardstick for departmental self-assessment and service delivery improvement as it offers an opportunity for the participants to be benchmarked by unbiased independent assessors who will give us a clear indication of exactly how well the participants performed against an internationally endorsed excellence framework.
The most significant benefit is the feedback report capturing the participants’ strengths and areas for improvement. This information will be incorporated in the participants’ future strategic plans and improvement programmes.
In conclusion, I would like to congratulate all the 36 recipients of the awards and thank the panel of judges and assessors for the good work. Further gratitude goes to the Balasela Awards Preparatory Committee led by Mr Thabo Cweba for delivering this glittering event. Let us all continue to serve our people with dignity, honesty, loyalty and integrity.
I thank you.
Enquiries:
Ncedo Kumbaca
Tell: 043 604 7584
E-mail: nossy.mzini@dot.ecprov.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Roads and Transport, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
30 October 2009
Source: Department of Roads and Transport, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
(http://www.ectransport.gov.za/)
