01 Dec 2013

Soldiers have been encouraged to be supportive of each other whether in good or bad times.

Speaking during the sixth Botswana Defence Force (BDF) annual awards, the commander Lt Gen. Gaolatlhe Galebotswe said a defence force should celebrate good achievements of its members, so that they should stick together even when bad things befall them. 

He encouraged recipients of honours to share successes on how they managed to attain the awards. Lt Gen. Galebotswe said the awards were a way of acknowledging staff performance for their good performance as they enhanced staff morale in order to do better.

He appreciated the good work done by recipients in building the image of the BDF and enhancing their capacity to deliver on their mandate. He said they would continue to improve the honours awards so that they could cover the entire functional area of the Botswana Defence Force.

The Deputy Chief of Staff, Brigadier Mabe Gaborone said the awards sought to honour deserving uniformed and non-uniformed members of the BDF as recognition of their incredible achievement.

The ceremony, he said, was a manifestation of the continued commitment by members of BDF to fulfil national expectations by delivering quality service at all times. He stated that those that were honoured displayed exceptional dedication to serve the BDF and the nation.

Brigadier Gaborone acknowledged that they operated as a team in the military observing that it was difficult to single out those who have done well because they do so within an environment driven by group efforts.

He noted that as employee recognition is one of the greatest drivers of employee motivation, the awards were bestowed on merit and transparent adjudication process. The adjudication, he said, was conducted at employee command to ensure combination of the most deserving candidates.

The committee chairperson, Colonel Anthony Dikeledi said they had a total of 53 recipients of the awards, 12 were group awards and the remaining were individual awards. He stated that best soldier award was selected based on the qualities of military personnel who displays quality work, discipline and dedication to duty. 

The recipients included best soldier by Private Kgaketso Kgotlhang, best junior commander by Lt Ape Lekone, craftsman of the year by Sergeant Andrew Mosinki, graphic designer of the year award by Mrs Bernadette Sedingwe among others.

In addition the Department of Information Services received media house of the year award. Ends