 
SPEECH BY THE KWAZULU-NATAL HEAD OF TRANSPORT, DR MBANJWA DURING THE 30 YEAR LONG SERVICE AWARD CEREMONY30 August 2001
Master of Ceremonies I am extremely delighted to be invited here today in a rare ceremony to award one of the highest honours that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport can offer to our longest serving staff members. In 1988 the Commission for Administration issued a directive to the effect that official who have rendered satisfactory service for a continuous period of 30 years or more, are to receive a certificate and a gold watch in recognition of their service to the State. Every year our Department's Human Resources Directorate, in conjunction with regional/area offices throughout KwaZulu-Natal, identifies official who qualify for watches and certificates. These are men and women of honour, whose unswerving devotion and dedication to their work should always be a flashing light that awakens those with a dozing work ethic. All of you who are receiving these certificates here today will agree with me that when you first came to this Department 30 years ago, the mere thought of a Black Transport Minister or a Head of Transport would have amounted to insanity. You built roads you knew you may never drive on because your wages were always lower than those of your White counterparts. Those were dark days of Apartheid and yet you braved both heat and cold to make this Department into what it is today. However, you have been very lucky that after 1994 you worked in a democratic dispensation and also in the Department whose achievements have been acknowledged both nationally and internationally. I do not have to remind you about these achievements because we can spend the whole day on that but I want to thank you for the work ethic you have created within the Department. It is my fervent hope that young staff members will take a leaf from your wisdom. Our country needs people of your calibre. Our Province needs people of your calibre and most importantly we pray that your influence may filter through the rest of our staff members to make this Department a winning Department, as it has always been the case. I thank you.
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