The President’s Coordinating Council (PCC) has endorsed a new district-based model for development that will synchronise planning by all spheres of government.
The district-driven model is directed at turning plans into action and ensuring proper project management and tracking. The model will involve citizens and civil society in the development of South Africa’s 44 municipal districts and eight metros.
“This is the key outcome of the first meeting of the PCC of the sixth administration, which met in Pretoria on Tuesday, convened by President Cyril Ramaphosa,” said the Presidency in a statement.
The PCC’s endorsement of the Khawuleza (“hurry up”) District Coordination Service Delivery Model follows overwhelming support for the new approach by joint committees of Cabinet and by Ministers and Members of Executive Councils (MINMEC).
The model will also be submitted for approval by Cabinet at its meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The new model will be piloted in the OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape at a time that will be identified in due course.
Tuesday’s meeting took place at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and was co-chaired by the President and Deputy President David Mabuza.
The meeting brought together Ministers in The Presidency; the Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Directors-General of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Finance and Public Service and Administration; the nine Provincial Premiers and provincial Directors-General; Executive Mayors of the eight metros as well as the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) President, Deputy President and Chief Executive Officer.
“The PCC deliberations at the Union Buildings gave effect to the commitment by President Ramaphosa in the June 2019 State of the Nation Address that the council’s agenda would be refocused to sharpen and strengthen cooperative governance and implement a well-coordinated and coherent national programme of action.
“Across the 44 districts and 8 Metros in the country, all developmental initiatives will be viewed through a district-level lens.
“Development will be pursued through single, integrated plans per district – one district, one plan - that will outline the role of each sphere of government as well as the role of communities and civil society sectors in each district,” said the Presidency.
In a bid to ensure coordination, the PCC said this will require that national budgets and programmes are spatially referenced across the 44 districts and eight metros.
This will take effect from the 2020/21 Budget cycle.
Similarly, provincial government budgets and programmes will be spatially referenced to districts and metros in the respective provinces, while municipalities will express the needs and aspirations of communities in integrated development plans for the 44 districts and eight metros.
“This shift in planning is expected to narrow the distance between citizens and engender active participation by citizens in development, and enable long-term planning as well as responses to immediate ‘burning’ issues.
“This new dispensation seeks to change the face of rural and urban landscapes by ensuring complementarity between urban and rural development, with a deliberate emphasis on local economic development,” read the statement.
The PCC also received presentations outlining the alignment of draft provincial growth and development plans with the national priorities listed in the June 2019 State of the Nation Address as government’s areas of focus for the current political term. - SAnews.gov.za
