Pretoria-The Minister for Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu says the notion that government's Imbizos are just "talk shops" is incorrect and government is working to improve these community engagements.
“They are not a talk shop. We have 21 years of experience of them. We need to keep improving them, we shouldn’t just tick boxes. The bottom line is that we have to work together to achieve a prosperous Africa,” said Minister Zulu on Sunday night.
She was speaking at the closing ceremony of the national Imbizo Focus Week that was hosted in a format of a dialogue.
This came as Sunday marked the closing of the weeklong imbizos that kicked off on Tuesday.
The closing ceremony comprised a live link to the provinces of Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.
Among the issues raised during the course of the imbizos was access to information in all official languages and the checking of progress on service delivery formed part of the closing ceremony of the national Imbizo Focus Week on Sunday.
In her address to the dialogue, Minister Zulu said the various interactions with communities gave government an opportunity to check how much progress has been made on service delivery. “It made us aware that the more we deliver in one area the more other areas feel as if they are being left out,” she said.
The Minister added that the interactions provided government with a platform to receive feed-back from communities.
According to Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Acting Director General Donald Liphoko, a total 70 interactions with the public took place over the course of the week.
Minister Zulu added that one of the attributes of President Jacob Zuma was his ability to listen. “The President asked that we not only listen but that we implement as well,” explained the Minister.
“The imbizos were about celebrating what government has achieved but also to find out how we can work together to speed up service delivery,” the Minister told those attending the gathering.
The imbizos, added the Minister, were not only about listening but were also about sharing information as this is part of strengthening institutions of government.
“What was interesting was that people did not only ask questions but also came up with suggestion as to what could be done,” said Minister Zulu.
She also took the opportunity to speak on the recent attacks against foreign nationals saying that South Africa should not be proud of such attacks.
“We are not benefiting from them,” said the Minister.
Speaking via a video link from the Casteel Thusong Service Centre in Mpumalanga, Communications Deputy Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said that most of the issues raised by the community were that of government support for SMMEs.
“Another important issue raised was the use of all official languages in communication,” said Ndabeni-Abrahams.
Communities had also raised concern about assistance for youth empowerment.
Speaking from the Archie Gumede Thusong Service Centre in KwaZulu-Natal, Telecommunications and Postal Services Deputy Minister Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize said that she has been interacting with communities issues raised was that of unemployment and skills shortage. –SAnews.gov.za
