CAPE TOWN - Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and the head of the United Nations (UN) in South Africa, Nardos Bekele-Thomas, are expected to launch a ground-breaking COGTA-UN partnership on April 6.
The partnership will be in support of the implementation of the District Development Model (DDM) in the O.R. Tambo District, in Eastern Cape.
In a statement on Sunday, COGTA said Dlamini-Zuma will be joined by the member of the executive council of COGTA in the Eastern Cape, Xolile Nqata, and O.R. Tambo Mayor, Thokozile Sokanyile.
“The model will foster a ‘One Plan’ approach to local development that seeks to incorporate public, private and civil society participation and investment in a joint effort to provide service delivery, localize procurement and create jobs,” COGTA said.
The partnership will initially focus on O.R. Tambo in Eastern Cape, Waterberg in Limpopo and eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal.
“This ground-breaking launch signifies the results of joint COGTA-UN extensive consultations in the three pilot districts to understand their development priorities,” the department said.
“The partnership has identified specific areas of support that the UN can provide to the districts, building on existing work and addressing specific gaps by establishing Business Solution Centres and strengthening the Thuthuzela Care Centres and the Thusong Centres to improve service delivery.”
COGTA said that the partnership has developed district-specific implementation plans based on three interrelated pillars.
The pillars include the “Unlocking Economic Value Chains” pillar focussed on providing opportunities for inclusive and sustainable growth and the “Social Transformation” pillar, which is intended to result in increased stakeholder commitment and advocacy in gender-based violence and femicide, COGTA said.
The third pillar – the “Service Delivery Enhancement” – will focus on resuscitating and restructuring entities such as the Thusong Centres to give citizens access to public service and information.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Devereaux Morkel