MilMed Jan Feb 2007.qxp - SA Military Health Service

“The Surgeon General says ...”2Lt Gen V.I. RamlakanDMG, MMS, MMB, OStJ“The greatest glory in living, lies notin never failing but in rising everytime you fall” - Nelson MandelaDuring February I was honoured to officiate at theSAMHS Unity Awards at the SAMHS TrainingFormation in Thaba Tshwane.These Annual Awards, as you all know, are all aboutthe acknowledgement and recognition of specialefforts by our members in enhancing service delivery inour organisation. Furthermore, these Awards form partof the national recognition effort in terms of thoseSouth Africans who distinguish themselves in theirefforts to make this country a better country. During theAwards I was reminded of how many committed anddedicated members there are in the SA Military HealthService.During that evening I took the opportunity toannounce a few significant changes in respect of theseawards. The first change to take place is the nameitself. The theme of Unity which underpins theseAwards, I am sure you will agree with me when I say isno longer relevant. South Africa is twelve years intodemocracy and as a country has had ample time toachieve unity. Besides, it is universally accepted thatSouth Africa is a united country given how we as SouthAfricans, against all odds, have managed to make thesmooth transition from a violent past to a new era ofdemocracy, freedom and equality. Therefore the ratherflattering reference by the rest of the world to ourtransition namely, the miracle, is not without occasion.The reference to our democracy as a miracle ispremised on the fact that we could only wrought themiracle if we were united in our collective purpose, ifnot all, the majority. The successful integration of theseven different military formations that gave rise to theSANDF as we have it today implies that unity amongmembers of the SANDF prevails.Further, as men and women in uniform, our unity ofpurpose is a given. We wear the same uniformprecisely because the uniform symbolizes our unity andcohesion. Today, therefore, marks the burial of thename SAMHS Unity Awards and the birth of theSAMHS Annual Corporate Awards. Therefore, we saygoodbye to the Unity Awards and say ‘hello’ to theSAMHS Annual Corporate Awards.The second change to be witnessed going forward, isrepresentivity in terms of the recipients of these awards.This of course is in line with the bigger TransformationDrive of the SAMHS. As part of this name-changingprocess, the Surgeon General’s Award, namely theAréte Award as from this year will be known as theMohale Award. Significantly, the Greek word ‘Aréte’will give way to an African name ‘Mohale’ which isSeSotho for ‘Hero’. I am sure, that as military peoplewe will immediately warm up to the word ‘hero’ as themilitary, by definition, is about heroes and heroineswho voluntarily lay down their lives, if need be, indefence of their country and its people. Incidentally,this name was chosen by a panel of experts after muchconsultation.Congratulations to all the winners! Their moment ofglory, which they fully deserved, I am sure waspreceded by long hours of perseverance andobstacles, but then again that is exactly what NelsonMandela meant when he said: “The greatest glory inliving, lies not in never failing, but in rising every timeyou fall”. I am sure that there were many times whenyou encountered obstacles and fell but every timemanaged to rise again. To those who did not win Iwould like to say that they must work harder and drawstrength and courage from these wise words from ourformer President.Finally, many thanks to all the sponsors and theorganisers who made the 2006 SAMHS Awardspossible.V.I. Ramlakan