Date: 20/04/2007

Source: KwaZulu Natal Provincial Government

Title: Ndebele: Premier's Service Excellence Awards

Speech by Premier of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Sibusiso Ndebele at the Premier's Service Excellence Awards, Durban City Hall

20 April 2007

Protocol

Programme Director, it is appropriate to start by congratulating the Premier's Service Excellence Awards (PSEA) finalists for going beyond their call of duty in the service of our province and its people.

We meet here today, on the occasion that marks the recognition of the teams that have displayed commitment and zeal in the execution of their duties. We are here to pay tribute to the humble public servants who continuously strive to improve the lives of our citizens day and night, far from the gaze of the spotlight.

Indeed, the Service Excellence Award is 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 is therefore to bring into the open the sometimes lonely and unrecognised efforts of those who have gone beyond the call of duty and are doing their work diligently, efficiently and effectively, without prodding.

So today is not merely a day where we only give away trophies and party. It is a day where all of us gathered here need to reflect 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.

Premier's Service Excellence Awards background

The original thinking in the development of the PSEA scheme was that it would provide the leverage needed to move public servants away from the bureaucratic culture of an inward focus on red tape. We were looking at shifting the focus externally to the citizens, whereby we would put them first in everything we do, and uphold their dignity through the implementation of Batho Pele Principles.

The idea was to sell the scheme to generate maximum participation of all provincial departments. Public recognition and celebration of those who reached the desired high levels of excellence was seen as a catalyst for others to emulate their best practices. This, it was hoped, would generate further participation and in this way, the cycle of continuous improvement would be completed.

Re-conceptualisation of the PSEA

The Office of the Premier, in partnership with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Standard Bank deemed it necessary to review the PSEA concept and interrogate the extent to which this scheme had been able to fulfil its intended aim of creating a culture of continuous improvement since its inception in 2001.

It was also important to consider whether or not the PSEA had kept abreast of new government initiatives aimed at enhancing service delivery improvement in our country. As we are all aware, there are a number of initiatives that the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government has introduced to which the PSEA has had to align itself, if it intended to add value to the objectives of government. To this end, a team from the Office of the Premier visited United Kingdom, a country known for her passion and commitment to deliver services according to what the citizens pronounce as the "right way." This was an important milestone for the province because we never looked back because we never doubted that this would be the most appropriate way that is to give back to the citizens their rights to voice their aspirations, concerns, comments and certainly compliments for services well delivered. We therefore embarked on the development of the KwaZulu-Natal Citizens' Charter.

The launch of the Citizens' Charter

On 15 November 2005, we 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. I wish to take some time to reflect on the principles of Batho Pele as espoused in, first the White paper to which I have alluded, as well as the additional principles on which we as a province agreed on.

1. Consultation: Citizens will be consulted about the level and quality of the public services they receive and wherever possible, will be given a choice about the services that are offered.

2. Service standards: Citizens will be told what level and quality of public services they will receive so that they are aware of what to expect. These standards will be set at a level that is demanding yet realistic.

3. Access: All citizens will have equal access to the services to which they are entitled.

4. Courtesy: Citizens will be treated with courtesy and consideration.

5. Information: Citizens will be given full and accurate information about the public services they are entitled to receive.

6. Openness and transparency: Citizens will be given information on how the three spheres of government, that is, national, provincial and local government and the various departments function, as well the cost of services provided.

7. Redress: Dealing with complaints - If the promised standard of service is not delivered, citizens will be offered an apology, a full explanation and a speedy and effective remedy. When complaints are made, citizens will receive a sympathetic, positive response.

8. Value for money: Public services will be provided economically and efficiently in order to give citizens the best possible value for money.

9. Encouraging innovation and rewarding excellence: Departments will ensure that an environment conducive to the delivery of services is created to enhance the capacity of their personnel to deliver good services.

10. Service delivery impact: Departments will measure and report regularly, using the sum total of all Batho Pele initiatives, the impact of Batho Pele-based service delivery on the lives of the citizens of KwaZulu-Natal, in the first three years and thereafter every five years.

11. Leadership and strategic direction: All the leaders in the service delivery chain will provide direction, create alignment, engage staff, create effective partnerships and demonstrate ethical and sound values.

Through the KZN Citizens' Charter, all departments represented in the province, developed own customised Service Commitment Charters and related Service Delivery Improvement Plans.

To reiterate, the Citizens' Charter is a vehicle to orientate public servants to deliver services in a way that helps to overcome our specific challenges in KwaZulu-Natal. This is a key factor in helping to ensure that the implementation of Batho Pele principles is done in a relevant and systematic way, and that the current 'ad hoc' and disjointed approach to implementing Batho Pele is avoided.

Obviously we cannot hold to blame the public servants who falter while trying to do the right thing, but most importantly, we cannot accept sub-standard delivery services by obsequious, indolent and blatantly rude public servants. This cannot in anyone's language bear good fruits.

Therefore, for us to achieve the best results, it became important for the province to establish a facility, now known as the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Public Service Academy; the intention being to train the public servant to be a true servant of the public.

We need therefore to position appropriately the PSEA in the performance management cycle

Role and position of the PSEA

The PSEA measures the implementation of systems assumed to be already in place. It only makes sense that adherence to the ideals of the Citizens' Charter is incorporated in the monitoring and evaluation phase of a typical performance management cycle framework.

It is for this reason that we have the 2006 PSEA Ceremony in April 2007.After a full financial year cycle. The awards add value in measuring the extent to which the desired systems have been successfully operating in government departments over the past year and thus giving recognition for where these are in place.

Management involvement

Leadership support and commitment is fundamental to the long-term success of the PSEA. Management involvement and support thus far has not been strong enough to enable the programme to achieve its ultimate impact. The departments that are already participating in the awards and have been able to integrate the Batho Pele principles can be regarded as pioneers of change. In order to significantly improve and sustain the momentum of change across the whole province, we need to look at ways of growing the influence and successes of these institutions. This should be driven from the top.

Therefore a new style and calibre of management is required. This new brand of leadership will set and communicate the direction for change and must themselves be role models of the new culture. It will thus be important to look for practical ways that will ensure that there is continuous involvement of management, such as including service delivery improvement and Batho Pele as a standard item on management meetings agendas.

In addition to ensuring that these values and objectives become an integral part of performance measurement systems, it is important that supportive leadership is provided to drive the process. Leaders as enablers, facilitators, and mentors play a critical role in driving the organisation to achieve its goals, through people management and proper resource mobilisation and deployment.

The service excellence model discussed above should be applied within a framework that links work plans and the performance appraisal of individual employees, teams and units to the strategic goals and objectives of departments. These must in turn be linked to the realisation of the strategic priorities of the KZN Provincial Government as a whole.

Provincial departmental Service Excellence Awards

We sincerely believe that increased levels of participation throughout government will increase the influence of the PSEA. The fact is, the greater the level of participation, the greater the level of implementation of the desired Batho Pele ethos.

From now onwards, only the winning teams from the respective departments will be eligible to contest for the Premier's Award. This will ensure that all departments participate in this monitoring and evaluation exercise. It is envisaged that this will enhance the performance levels of departments in service delivery improvement.

Adding value to the scheme

May I reiterate the statement that I made earlier in my speech. The Premier's Service Excellence Awards is not about winning trophies. We need to look beyond that. This is an exercise to ensure optimum service delivery improvement:

* The Office of the Premier therefore should be able to strip and thus derecognise any previously winning department or institution that has been found guilty of an act of misconduct in respect of the excellence awards. We will make a public announcement about the action that will be taken in case of this transgression. This way our people will see that we are serious about good governance in our province.
* The Office of the Premier will continue to arrange for and co-ordinate random unannounced visits by all provincial departments, as part of monitoring and evaluation.

Ensuring sustainability

We need to encourage a number of initiatives that have been developed throughout government and are bringing us closer to our goal of a truly people-centred administration that is united, non-racial and non-sexist.

These include:

* addressing the gaps detected in Batho Pele implementation within participating organisations as a result of their assessment and adjudication process
* the development of generic interventions to address common gaps in
Batho Pele implementation province-wide
* setting up a network for sharing and replication of best practices and lessons learnt
* publishing annual reports of results against promises made in the citizens' Charter and the Service Commitment Charters
* giving feedback to all organisations that took part in the Awards Scheme
* re-engineering and improving systems, work processes and institutional structures that collectively make service delivery possible.

May I take this opportunity to applaud the initiatives taken by the Natal Mercury and the City Press who by running weekly columns, both positive and negative, on service delivery help ensure that our public servants serve our Citizens with dignity and live up to the standards set out in the Citizens' Charter and the Service Commitment Charters.

We appreciate this kind of collaborative effort in our quest for service delivery improvement and the measure of the effectiveness of government initiatives aimed at promoting a culture of good governance and accountability. This is the kind of partnerships that we called for in our 2007 State of the Province Address.

Ladies and gentlemen, I challenge you to create an organisational culture that cares. A culture that encourages, recognises, supports and rewards service excellence. I challenge you to develop the leadership skills necessary to create a compelling vision for all to subscribe to and emulate. I challenge you to seek and find the joy and happiness that comes with dedicated service to humanity. I challenge you to strive for excellence with pride and humility as enshrined in the Batho Pele Revitalisation programme.

We would like to congratulate as well as challenge the achievers present at this gathering to sustain service excellence. Forward ever, backward never. There is definitely no room for backtracking in the same way that there is no room for complacency. Sometimes even when you are on the right track, you will be run over if you just sit there and you do not move forward. You have to perpetually belong to the Achievers' League, but also keep lifting your standards even higher than before.

I am also prepared to make good my end of the bargain, that is, to increase the number of trophies to accommodate the number of achievers! Booker T Washington, the African-American author and educator once said and I quote:

"Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way."

In a similar vein Ancient Greek Philosopher Aristotle wrote:

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

Let us live and strive for excellence in KwaZulu-Natal. Let us unanimously proclaim that 'We Care, We Serve, We Belong!'

Masisukume Sakhe!

The winners announced at Premier Ndebele's Service Excellence Awards at the Durban City Hall on 20 April 2007 were as follows:

Gold: KZN Department of Transport: Road Traffic Inspectorate, Durban Region

Silver:
1. KZN Department of Transport: Hluhluwe Cost Centre
2. KZN Department of Transport: Road Traffic Inspectorate, Pietermaritzburg Region
3. KZN Department of Transport: Durban Regional Office

Bronze:
1. KZN Department of Education: Ilembe District Office
2. KZN Department of Education: Clayhaven Primary School in Phoenix
3. KZN Department of Transport: Estcourt Cost Centre
4. KZN Department of Health: ST Apollinaris Hospital
5. KZN Department of Health: Estcourt Hospital

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
20 April 2007