19 May 2019

Performance awards are a pinnacle of organizational success as they recognise the human capital and enhance performance, says Local Government and Rural Development assistant minister, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso.

Speaking at the ministry’s excellence awards in Gaborone on May 16, Ms Tshireletso said it was for such reason that government institutionalised a staff rewards programme so that employees were motivated to achieve more.

She said holding the event every year motivated more of the ministry’s officers strived to do better.

The assistant minister said it was worth noting that employee performance and customer service are interrelated because whenever job expectations were exceeded, excellent customer service is realised.

Ms Tshireletso said the event was meant to recognise the valuable contributions of staff and appreciate their role.

The event was held under the theme: Public Service Innovation and Transformation, which she said demonstrated the value the ministry places on its staff members.

She however, noted that the ministry is still experiencing service delivery challenges where amongst others, there are delays in execution of projects as well as various social programmes.

She advised that they should not be discouraged and deterred from focusing on the government’s commitment to deliver quality services to Batswana.

The assistant minister said they were mandated to improve the social quality and living standards of Batswana.

Ms Tshireletso said as their ministry reached all corners of the country in terms of service delivery, government was judged on its performance.

She said rewarding good performance was challenging, but necessary to support improvements in performance.

She urged all to celebrate with those who were given awards and also applaud the contributions made by other employees as they polished the stars to shine and get awards.

In his welcome remarks, permanent secretary, Mr Boipelo Khumomatlhare assured the staff that they would continue to provide unwavering support on matters relating to good performance as well as providing a conducive work environment to enable such performance.

He urged staff members not to make the awards an event, but rather an on-going venture, integral to their day to day operations.

The ministry awarded its employees in ten categories such as best performer, best change agent, most customer centric among others; from scales from A to D which attracted certificates and money ranging from P500 to  P1200 and P2000 for the ministry’s netball team. ENDS