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26 March 2009

Judge Thabani Jali
Public Service Commissioner, Dr Norman Maharaj
Public Works Commissioner, Trevor Petersen
MECs
Heads of department
Finalists
Distinguished guests

It is great privilege to be here this evening to rub shoulders with the men and women who keep the wheels of government turning in this province. It is always a pleasure to reward excellence. But excellence entails hard work and co-operation from both colleagues and family.

Hopefully government has also done its best to create the conditions and provide the encouragement that enable employees to shine.

I would like to say “thank you” to our public service employees for their many sterling efforts over the past year efforts which have ensured that residents of the Western Cape continue to receive the best service delivery possible.

I’ve always believed that the efforts of those who have been prepared to “go the extra mile” never go unnoticed. And this has again been emphasised tonight.

I would also like to thank the adjudicators and our partners from Price Waterhouse Coopers, whose interest, input and assistance have been invaluable in making this function possible.

Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen service delivery is a subject that has always been close to my heart more especially so since I became Premier of this beautiful province nine months ago.

I know that civil servants (like politicians) are often criticised when things go wrong. Sometimes this criticism is warranted. Other times there have been compelling reasons for glitches in service delivery.

But to Mr Bassadien of Lentegeur to Ms Madikizela of Khayelitsha to Mrs Jones of Knysna and to Mr Baartjies of Beaufort West, excuses will always be well, unforgivable. They expect tip-top service delivery all the time. And they’re right.

And so, public servants (like politicians) have sometimes had to take the punches on the chin, while vowing to do better next time. And I’m pleased to say that you have. Indeed, I am convinced that you have excelled far, far more times than you’ve slipped up. Well done.

I’m pleased that the type of service delivery you’re providing to the citizens of the Western Cape is based on Batho Pele principles: We care. We serve. We belong. And yet, I’m also pleased that next year you won’t be restricting yourselves to Batho Pele and that you’ll be looking beyond these principles.

I’m all for renewal for doing things differently before it becomes absolutely necessary to look for new ways to provide the people with their needs. And so I would like to wish you well in your search for innovation and in your thrust for “integrated service delivery.”

But that is in the future. To get back to the present, I am especially pleased that the service delivery criteria on which you base your search for excellence centre on some of the issues that I have been vigorously promoting over the past few months.

Many of the projects you’ve undertaken are geared towards delivering capacity to communities which is one of the outcomes I had in mind when I started making calls for the building of partnerships.

Community involvement also gives substance to the call for activism that I made in my State of the Province Address on 13 February.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to congratulate the seven finalists from the Department of Health (three), the Department of Community Safety (one), the Education Department (one), the Department of Agriculture (one), and the Department of the Premier (one). I’m sure that those of you who have taken the time to view the DVD of why the finalists were chosen will agree that the adjudication panel had an extremely difficult job. They’ve had to agonise over a series of excellent projects.

I would like to end this address by once again thanking the organisers, the public servants of this province and the finalists (who continue to show what can be achieved with extra effort).

I hope that you will continue to provide top class service to the citizens of the Western Cape for many years to come.

Thank you very much.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Western Cape Provincial Government
26 March 2009