NELSPRUIT – The Mpumalanga Finance Department recently added another feather to its cap when it by winning a national award for its good functioning.
The minister of public service and administration has named the department the second best functioning provincial department in the country. The Batho Pele Excellence Awards, which were presented in Midrand on Thursday, aim to recognise, reward, acknowledge and encourage excellence in the public service. It is the first national awards programme aimed at honouring public servants for excellent performance.
Mr Madala Masuku, MEC for finance, applauded the department’s management and staff on the achievement. “The nomination in the category of best-functioning department is a significant recognition of the department which has, in recent years, attained clean audit opinions,” said Masuku. Submissions for this year’s awards covered only the 2012/2013 financial year.
The criteria used to judge the entries were the improvement in service delivery in the department’s particular area of operation; demonstrated impact of the service to beneficiaries; customer satisfaction; demonstrated principles of good governance and leadership, and improved organisational performance.
After receiving the award, Ms Nombedesho Nkamba, head of the department, also acknowledged the sterling contribution of her team. “It is all about team effort,” she said. “It is this team which brought this glory back to the department and the province.
“They have adopted a slogan “Work, work, work” to demonstrate their commitment to pursuing the service delivery objectives of the Mpumalanga Government. It is their desire to be among the best in the country and have made it possible for us to obtain this rare recognition out of more than 90 provincial government departments.”
