ADDRESS BY MEC M R SEMENYA AT THE LIMPOPO BRAND EXHIBITION AND WORKSHOP 14 July 2006

REPRESENTATIVES OF ALL PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENTS

REPRESENTATIVES OF ALL PARASTATALS

EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

It gives me great pleasure to have this department honoured by being given the opportunity to be the first to speak to this new look of the province.

Ladies and gentlemen

Those who are in marketing will tell you that a brand is an integral part in marketing a product or a company. Its impact on the target market can determine whether a company flourishes or not. It is a symbol that is also meant to evoke emotions and sentiments and build familiarity between the target market and the company. This is what a brand or a symbol does.

This shows that a symbol is a powerful tool, it is what saved most of us during the apartheid era as we were fighting for freedom we used signs and symbols to convey messages so they could not be detected. The African National Congress and other political parties that were banned were known across the world not only because of comrades who were in exile spreading the word, but also by the symbols carried on the flags and documents that exchanged hands. The way in which our freedom fighters carried themselves while wearing those symbols got them respect.

Today, when we vote, our ballot papers carry emblems of parties prominentlydisplayed because people have become familiar with the brand of the parties, which makes it recognizable.

This ladies and gentlemen is just but an example of how effective branding can be.

As we refresh our brand as Limpopo, we need to understand that it is an important initiative by government which will need all of us to market.

In orderfor us as Public Works, to make this indeed a period in which our people can be hopeful about the future, we need to get them on board with what we are doing, educate them about our programmes, andget them to identify with this government and what it stands for.

Ladies and gentlemen this new image can be used as a vehicle to achieve that, as we refresh ourselves as a province we need to refresh ourselves in the minds of those we serve and in the way we deliver our services in this department and strive to always perfect ourselves in the different jobs we do.

This should be a culture that we adopt and make it personally ours. Let’s make it a Public works organizational culture as we strive to be driven with the same passion and values in adherence to the Batho Pele principles, which forms the core of the Limpopo brand.

With the Extended Public Works Programme being one of the core initiatives in trying to eradicate poverty and address the high level of unemployment in the province, as we implement it, all these principles of Batho Pele will need to be adhered to and through that we’ll be selling the Limpopo image and our warm personality.

The way we sell ourselves will also help the province in realizing its key objectives of the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy, which are improving the quality of life, promoting economic growth and job creation, creating institutional capacity and efficiency, addressing priority programmes such as HIV/AIDS, BEE, eradication of poverty as well as the integration of the regional economy.

In conclusion

I would like to re-iterate the words spoken by our Premier Sello Moloto during the launch of this new brand, he said employees must be involved by understanding the meaning and the promise of the brand and that the more employees associate themselves with this government the more they will behave positively. And I am confident employees of this department will continue to market themselves and the province positively.

Let’s embrace the new image of the province and in the spirit of Public works, remain true to our slogan “Re a shoma” and continue to work and deliver. Always remember, THE HEARTLAND OF SOUTHERN AFRICA –DEVELOPMENT IS ABOUT PAEOPLE.

I Thank you