12 Dec 2022

A Botswana Railways (BR)’s employee, Mr Boniface Kenosi emerged the best overall winner at the 2022 BR Excellence Awards.

He scooped Employee of the Year, Piston and Technical Excellence awards.

The awards ceremony was held in Mahalapye on Friday to honour and recognise exceptional performers under nine awards categories of Endurance, Catalyst, Customer-Centric, Piston, Technical Excellence, Team, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chairman and Employee of the Year.

In his keynote address, BR board chairmperson, Mr Mmoloki Ramaeba said the ceremony was organised to inculcate a culture of excellence within the organisation.

“This glamorous evening is a demonstration that within us there are men and women of stature who have elected to perform above expectation, and we will reward them accordingly,” he said.

Mr Ramaeba encouraged those who did not receive awards not to give up, but to view the event as a motivation to establish a culture of high-performance teams.

He also thanked the BR board members for the relentless and unwavering support to executive leadership and the BR acting CEO and her team for making the organisation proud.

“We are aware of your challenges relating to rolling stocks, lack of funding, aging asset, aging workforce, uncompetitive salaries and others. 

We, as the board, are working on doing something about it,” he added. In her welcome remarks, Botswana Railways acting CEO, Ms Chekesile Malele explained that BR last held its Excellence Awards in 2017 when the organisation celebrated its 30 years of existence since taking over operations from the National Railway of Zimbabwe.

This year, Ms Malele said BR found the need to hold the event to recognise exceptional performance, loyalty, special achievements and provide incentives to employees who had served BR diligently in furtherance of its mandate over the years.

“We also appreciate that in addition, the awards will go a long way in communicating the expectations of BR on its employees, beyond those defined in their annual performance contracts,” she said.

Employee of the Year, Mr Kenosi walked away with P3 500, as well as P2 000 for his first position under the Technical Excellence award category and P1 250 for scooping second position under the Piston award category, a total sum of P6 750.

The second and third positions under the Technical Excellence award category went to Mr Letlhogonolo Gaodumelwe and Mr Mompe Oabile, who got P1 250 and P750 prize monies, respectively.

Under the Piston award category, the first position was scooped by Mr Kenny Phuthego winning P2 000, while third position was scooped by Mr Pedzani Mantai who got P750.

Furthermore, the Endurance award went to Ms Motshidisi Monyake-Tapoloso getting P2 000, while the Catalyst award was scooped by Ms Talita Ruda, who got P2 000 for first position, followed by Mr Bafana Moabi and Mr Wamorena Maruapula, who got P1 250 and P750 for second and third positions, respectively.

Ms Ogomoditse Hetanang scooped position one under the Customer-Centric award category, followed by Ms Asnath Moyo and they walked away with P2 000 and P1 250 respectively.

The Team award went to BR’s Otse Gang of 18 members, being a track master, a track leader and 16 track workers, who walked away with P1 500 each.

Lastly, the CEO award went to Mr Monkgogi Radipampiri and Mr Thato Bosula, who got P2 500, while the Chairman’s award went to BR’s Transformation Team members who got P1 500 each. ENDS