12 Jun 2018

People seeking services in government offices are the reason for the existence of the various ministries and departments.

In his keynote address at the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism excellent awards on Friday, the permanent secretary, Mr Thato Raphaka said public officers therefore needed to go an extra mile when attending to customers needing service.

Mr Raphaka implored the ministry’s employees to understand that servicing customers was not an act of favour but a right due to those seeking such service.

He also encouraged the employees to strive to ensure that team spirit prevailed in their midst. He observed that belonging to different departments and performing different duties did not mean they could not work successfully as a team.

Mr Raphaka stated that the interlinkages of their departments, units or individuals’ roles and functions meant they should work jointly to guarantee that the ministry effectively served the purpose for which it was set up.

On another issue, the permanent secretary said while awards were meant among others to encourage competition, employees should guard against competing against each other.

He said each time they perform their duties, they should aim at surpassing their previous performance. He urged the employees to also mentor, coach and advice each other, saying it was only then that the ministry could attain service excellence.

Deputy permanent secretary, Mr Thabang Boshoma had said earlier that the awards were a form of recognising excellence and good performance.

He said they were meant to acknowledge employees who had been able to consistently maintain good performance in their functions.

Mr Boshoma said prior to the ministry awards, different departments had held their awards in a build-up to the event.

The awards ceremony saw 75 individual employees and 15 teams receive awards for outstanding performance.

The ceremony was held under the theme, ‘Repositioning the environment sector as Botswana’s engine of growth’. Ends