HARDWORKING City staff have been thanked for their dedication with the inaugural municipal Outstanding Performance Awards.

Initiated by municipal manager Gaster Sharpley to reward employee excellence, the awards aim to recognise the efforts and achievements of employees who have performed outstandingly.

As such, they form part of management's strategy to motivate staff towards excellence in service delivery, and they link with the City's principle of retaining human resources.

The awards were handed out at the East London City Hall, which was transformed from a simple council meeting place for the occasion, on Friday, 2 November.

With the awards, the City aims to promote good working relations between management and staff, and encourage information sharing, behavioural changes and skills improvement.

However, the ultimate goal is to improve mindsets and encourage staff to develop more passion and drive, to epitomise the Batho Pele principles of putting people first. This, in turn, will lead to better service delivery.

Executive Mayor Zintle Peter, Sharpley and municipal employees attended the ceremony. Television and radio personality Vuyo Mbuli was the master of ceremonies and Nelly Mosiane was the guest speaker.

Award categories ranged from employee of the year to long service, given to people who had worked for the City for 25 years or more.

Nadine Sonnenberger and Nokuzola Shweni were joint employee of the year winners, while the municipal manager's award went to Thenjie Charlie and Elroy Minnie.

Special mention was made of Rhett Kaiser, who has served in local government for 49 years.