Date: 28/09/2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: N Rasmeni: Long Service Awards
ADDRESS BY MEC FOR NORTH WEST SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, MS N RASMENI, DURING THE LONG SERVICE AWARDS, 28 September 2004
The Acting DDG, Rre Seth Ramagaga,
SMS members,
All staff members,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am indeed honoured to be acknowledging members of staff who have been serving this government with commitment for a long time. Most of you have served this government and the public during the past ten years and beyond with only one mission, to ensure that the lives of our people are improved.
To continue to serve our people properly, we must build a pool of civil servants who are committed to serve the people. This relates to work ethics and a culture of selflessness. It also means that we need people who are ready to sacrifice. Most importantly it means employing required skilled and specialist personnel rather than general workers. But also would require that we rid ourselves of unwanted elements.
When giving his state of the nation address last year, President Thabo Mbeki emphasised a need for a new calibre of community development workers. Let me remind this gathering that these are people who are responsive to the needs of communities. Their mental attitude says work has to be done not I will do it tomorrow. They live with communities, they are aware of the needs of communities.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we should always remember that we are members of the community before we are civil servants. This propels us as new cadres to empathise with the communities, to understand the plight and the needs of our people and respond accordingly.
In line with the new five-year electoral mandate of making a reality of the People's Contract, government is leveraging the machinery of the state to redress past imbalances by pursuing programmes that are aimed at alleviating poverty, enabling growth, reconstruction and development, developing capacity and strengthening the second economy in an effort to gradually integrate it with the first.
We must always ensure that what we do is geared toward making this a reality. Key to service delivery is the move to less hierarchical, more flexible public service and to a system that recognises and reward skill, capability and performance outcomes.
As a country, we also have goals that we have to achieve in the quest of attaining sustainable development that will benefit all of our people and will contribute to enduring an increased well-being. Goals centred around a life for all our people that can be led free from the shackles of discrimination of any kind - be that based on race, gender, religion, physical ability, sexual preference or any other. But also a life free from the confines that poverty and economic hardship bestow upon people and societies.
In order to fulfil this goal, a country has to decide on the roles that various actors, particularly the State should play, and what the balance of forces between the State, the market and civil society should be.
I want to encourage all the staff members receiving these awards today to become that new breed of civil servants the President of the country needs. Let me also reiterate what Premier Molewa said during her state of the province address when she said there is no more time for mediocrity. Our people out there are living in abject poverty and are unemployed, we can therefore not afford to sit on our laurels and pretend as if all is well. Corrupt officials should also refrain from misusing public funds as we will vehemently deal with such corrupt elements.
Programme Director, in conclusion, let me congratulate all of you for staying on in the public service, we know that there are opportunities in the private sector but you chose to remain with government for such a long time. Continue to serve our people with diligence, To the HR Directorate keep up the good work as this kind of exercise really motivates others who have not been with us for a long time.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Social Development, North West Provincial Government
28 September 2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: N Rasmeni: Long Service Awards
ADDRESS BY MEC FOR NORTH WEST SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, MS N RASMENI, DURING THE LONG SERVICE AWARDS, 28 September 2004
The Acting DDG, Rre Seth Ramagaga,
SMS members,
All staff members,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am indeed honoured to be acknowledging members of staff who have been serving this government with commitment for a long time. Most of you have served this government and the public during the past ten years and beyond with only one mission, to ensure that the lives of our people are improved.
To continue to serve our people properly, we must build a pool of civil servants who are committed to serve the people. This relates to work ethics and a culture of selflessness. It also means that we need people who are ready to sacrifice. Most importantly it means employing required skilled and specialist personnel rather than general workers. But also would require that we rid ourselves of unwanted elements.
When giving his state of the nation address last year, President Thabo Mbeki emphasised a need for a new calibre of community development workers. Let me remind this gathering that these are people who are responsive to the needs of communities. Their mental attitude says work has to be done not I will do it tomorrow. They live with communities, they are aware of the needs of communities.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we should always remember that we are members of the community before we are civil servants. This propels us as new cadres to empathise with the communities, to understand the plight and the needs of our people and respond accordingly.
In line with the new five-year electoral mandate of making a reality of the People's Contract, government is leveraging the machinery of the state to redress past imbalances by pursuing programmes that are aimed at alleviating poverty, enabling growth, reconstruction and development, developing capacity and strengthening the second economy in an effort to gradually integrate it with the first.
We must always ensure that what we do is geared toward making this a reality. Key to service delivery is the move to less hierarchical, more flexible public service and to a system that recognises and reward skill, capability and performance outcomes.
As a country, we also have goals that we have to achieve in the quest of attaining sustainable development that will benefit all of our people and will contribute to enduring an increased well-being. Goals centred around a life for all our people that can be led free from the shackles of discrimination of any kind - be that based on race, gender, religion, physical ability, sexual preference or any other. But also a life free from the confines that poverty and economic hardship bestow upon people and societies.
In order to fulfil this goal, a country has to decide on the roles that various actors, particularly the State should play, and what the balance of forces between the State, the market and civil society should be.
I want to encourage all the staff members receiving these awards today to become that new breed of civil servants the President of the country needs. Let me also reiterate what Premier Molewa said during her state of the province address when she said there is no more time for mediocrity. Our people out there are living in abject poverty and are unemployed, we can therefore not afford to sit on our laurels and pretend as if all is well. Corrupt officials should also refrain from misusing public funds as we will vehemently deal with such corrupt elements.
Programme Director, in conclusion, let me congratulate all of you for staying on in the public service, we know that there are opportunities in the private sector but you chose to remain with government for such a long time. Continue to serve our people with diligence, To the HR Directorate keep up the good work as this kind of exercise really motivates others who have not been with us for a long time.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Social Development, North West Provincial Government
28 September 2004
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