Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, says the launch of the new District Coordination Model will ensure that government departments go to districts with one plan to deliver a plethora of services and create economic opportunities.
The Minister said this when she was interviewed by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) radio unit in a broadcast that was aired to millions of community radio listeners.
She said the new model, which was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he tabled the Presidency budget vote and which was recently adopted by Cabinet, will see different government departments going to a district with one development plan and one where every department will have a role to play.
“So we have come up with a plan, and the President announced it, called the District Development Model. We want to call it a development model rather than a delivery model, because we want people in those spaces to participate in the development of those spaces and of themselves.
“What it means is that we are, going forward, going to have one plan for every district. The one plan will be developed from the grass roots, the municipalities will develop their Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), the province will work with them, national will work with them, and we will then all have one plan and a budget for that district.
While the new model is set to be rolled out to all districts next year, it will be piloted at the OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape on 17 September 2019 before being launched at the Ethekwini and Waterberg district municipalities in October and November, respectively.
She said the new model would allow for an integrated, district-based approach to address service delivery challenges and that would include localised procurement and job creation that promotes and supports local businesses and communities.
The new District Coordination Model – with Khawuleza (Hurry Up) as its call to action - aims to improve the coherence and impact of government service delivery in the 44 Districts and eight Metros around the country.
These districts and Metros are viewed as development spaces that can be used as centres of service delivery and economic development including job creation.
On Wednesday, Dlamini-Zuma said the plan would be dissolving silos in government and bringing government closer to the people by involving citizens and stakeholders in the development of districts and Metros.
“The other thing that we want to emphasise that has not been emphasised enough is that we need to have economic development for the communities and for the country. So that is a big emphasis – small and medium enterprises, cooperatives, what can we do there that can generate jobs, create wealth for them.
“We are all going to go to districts with one plan, water, this is what you are doing, roads, this is what you are doing, Home Affairs, [this is what you are doing]. We want to have economic activities there and people participating in those activities.” – SAnews.gov.za
