Hard-working official honoured

A municipal official who was honoured at the Batho Pele Awards ceremony hosted by the Eastern Cape provincial government in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday said his passion for his job involved ensuring customer complaints were dealt with efficiently.

Zonile “Mr Fix It” Ndoni, 57, from the customer care unit at the office of the mayor in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, was one of the public servants honoured at the ceremony held at the Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton.

The awards were part of the Africa Public Services Day celebrations for committed public servants who had gone the extra mile in their quest to deliver services to the people.

The Batho Pele principles require public servants to be polite, open and transparent and to deliver good service to the public.

Ndoni has worked for the municipality since 2006.

“I deserve this award – I have devoted my time and I’m very passionate about helping people by making sure that every complaint is escalated to the relevant department,” Ndoni said.

He said in 2018 he was nominated in the Bay Stars Awards which were hosted by the municipality, and was a finalist.

“Making it to the finals pushed me to work even harder – I continued to do my job with passion and love.”

Ndoni said his job was very demanding but with the support of his family he pulled through.

“I do a 24-hour job and it’s very demanding of my time, but with the support of my family and their understanding, I can still go on,” he said.

Ndoni added that good teamwork with colleagues had also contributed to him being recognised.

“This would never have been possible without the cooperation from colleagues and I have also received good support from political leaders.”

Antoinette Moss, of the office of the premier, said the awards were a reflection of the Batho Pele principles as well as promoting professionalism in the public service and the government’s ability to deliver quality services that met the expectations of the public.

Moss said there were often negative stories about public servants in newspapers, so it was good to recognise those who went beyond serving the people.

“We want to thank all the public servants for their dedication and efforts, and also encourage those who didn’t receive awards to continue to work better and to provide better services for our people,” Moss said.

Among other winners at the awards were the Eastern Cape department of health, which was honoured for best department, Nontobeko Matu, who received a posthumous award as an outstanding public servant, and Sivuyile Kobokana, for the best Batho Pele co-ordinator.

Sandiswa Zixesha, of the office of the premier, received an award for going beyond the call of duty in supporting the implementation of the Batho Pele Revitalisation Strategy, while Chwayita Yokwe, of the Eastern Cape provincial treasury strategy management team, received the award for co-ordinator of the year for implementing the strategy.

Youth projects of the Eastern Cape department of rural development and agrarian reform also received awards.

The awards were in line with Youth Month and the National Youth Policy that seeks to enable young people to reach their potential.