14 Aug 2017

Minister of Health and Wellness, Ms Dorcas Makgato, has awarded Minister’s Special Award to her chauffeur, Mr Musanko Keatlholetswe, for executing excellent determination towards his job.

Presenting the award, during her ministry’s Annual Achievement Awards themed: Clear, Bold and Self-Driven Workforce, Ms Makgato said Mr Keatlholetswe, who got P4 000 cheque and certificate, was a humble, determined, trustworthy and reliable employee ‘who goes above his duty’s expectation.’

“He does not confine himself only to what his job is. He is a representation of what clear, bold and self-driven is and he is the type of driver who supervises his own supervisor, as he is bold,” she added.

The ministry awards ceremony that were held on Friday, the minister said was an important occasion that provided an opportunity to take pride in workers who were skillful and steadfast in their work as an integral part in the ministry’s success.

The nature of work done at her ministry, she said required self-driven, ethical and determined workforce and therefore encouraged her staff to be self-driven to achieve ministry’s mandate of delivering quality health service to the public.

Without these values and a desire to make a change, she said people’s lives would be at danger, as ‘by nature and design we are in an environment that requires one to have clarity in the way they think and see things, and to be bold and self-driven in their resolve in ministry issues.’

In his keynote address, Motor Vehicle Accidents Fund (MVA) chief executive officer, Mr Michael Tlhagwane, said the theme called for a transparent, courageous and motivated workforce.

In health service delivery, Mr Tlhagwane said employees were required to go an extra mile and provide good quality service to clients, saying the theme also advocated for a workforce that had to excel and transform into employees of choice.

“The foundation of any high performing organisation is rooted in its engaged human resource and supportive leadership. The two are key factors that result in a nurturing force that fuels organization growth,” he said.

For that reason, he encouraged ministry staff to inculcate a culture of service delivery, whilst dealing with many impending health issues.

“Service is the lifeblood of an organisation, everything flows from it and is nourished by it. Customer service is not a department, it is an attitude,” he added.

As an embedded tradition, MVA Fund CEO said government recognised that the most indispensable resource that a country could ever have was its human resource and as a result continued to spend millions of

Pula developing its diverse workforce.

Thus, he said, as an integral part of public service, Ministry of Health and Wellness’s effort of investing in human resources by nurturing and motivating its employees was an excellent initiative.

Additionally to achieve national strategic goals, he said government had also created a platform, which enabled ministries and departments to work cooperatively with parastatals, NGOs and the private sector.

Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele, in his vote of thanks, acknowledged all who contributed in making the event a success, saying “success is never an accident, it is always a result of good planning, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution.”

He expressed profound gratitude to Mr Tlhagwane for gracing the occasion, as well as for his inspirational keynote address. Mr Makgalemele also commended awardees and encouraged them to keep up the good work and continue to be a motivation to their colleagues, saying “performance tracking and monitoring is extremely important, as it facilitates the identification of success, and appropriate response to strategies.”

“When complemented by performance reward system, to incentivize productivity amongst self, we are all able to achieve and reward performance. Performance monitoring provides further impetus to give the necessary capacity to deliver optimally,” he added.

Ministry’s permanent secretary, Ms Shenaaz El-Halabi awarded permanent secretary’s award to Gumare Hospital team in recognition of its impressive efforts in handling the hospital’s fire incident of March 2016.

Ms El-Halabi applauded and encouraged the team to continue with the good work, as it reflected teamwork, sense of ownership, accountability, timeliness and value for life.

Awards categories also included; best project, best programme, best facility, innovation, corporate, performer of the year by cadre, as well as certificates of participation and recognition for Work Improvement Teams. Ends