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2 April 2009

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso Ndebele will on Tuesday, 7 April 2009, reveal who the province's top public servants are. Premier Ndebele will deliver the keynote address and present awards to the province’s best public servants at the 2009 Premier's Service Excellence Awards ceremony to be held as follows:

Date: 7 April 2009 (Tuesday)
Time: 17h30
Venue: Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (Icc), Durban

On 15 November 2005, Premier Ndebele launched the first KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Citizens' Charter. This was to give effect to the revival of good governance and the transformation of the public service, as encapsulated in the White Paper on the public service transformation of 15 November 1995, which intended to give the citizens of the province more say in the way public services are delivered and to create an environment characterised by a culture of service excellence.

The Citizen's Charter has provided a platform to the different provincial and local government departments to outline their service delivery improvement plans wherein it is essential to implement the principles of Batho Pele within the operations that are undertaken by the relevant department. In accordance with the principles and ideals contained in the Citizen's Charter, the annual Premier's Service Excellence Award is hosted.

The award marks the recognition of public service teams who have displayed commitment and zeal in the execution of their duties. It also pays tribute to those public servants who continuously strive to improve the lives of our citizens day and night, far from the gaze of the spotlight.

The service excellence awards is also an ongoing exercise of sharing with the citizens of KwaZulu-Natal and government employees that excellence in service delivery is central to everything that government expects from all public servants. This event, therefore, serves to bring into the open the sometimes lonely and unrecognised efforts of those public servants who have gone beyond the call of duty and are doing their work diligently, efficiently and effectively, without prodding.

The awards ceremony also serves as a day for reflection on what service excellence is all about and what the province of KwaZulu-Natal is doing to encourage and monitor a culture of continuous improvement of service delivery and greater accountability to public sector customers and stakeholders. Last year's (2008) winner of the Premier's Service Excellence Award was the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport Road Traffic Inspectorate, Pietermaritzburg Region).

Winners from previous years included the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport
Road Traffic Inspectorate, Durban Region, Grey's Hospital, ML Sultan Primary School, Murchison District Hospital and Addington Hospital. All media are invited to attend.

RSVPs no later than 10h00 on Monday, 6 April 2009:
Nothando Sibiya
Tel: 033 341 3342
E-mail: sibiyanz@premier.kzntl.gov.za.

Enquiries: Logan Maistry
Cell: 083 6444 050
E-mail: maistryl@premier.kzntl.gov.za

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
2 April 2009
Source: Sapa