Speech by Dr Jean Swanson-Jacobs Deputy Minister for the Department of Social Development and the Political Champion for the Galeshewe Urban Renewal Programme during the Galeshewe Nodal Visit

Programme Director
Honourable Deputy Minister for Arts and Culture and the Political Champion for the Eastern Cape Urban Renewal Programme (URP)
Honourable MEC for Local Government and Housing
Honourable MEC for Social Services and Population Development
Honourable Mayor of Sol Plaatjie Municipality
Honourable Mayor of Buffalo Municipality
Honourable Mayor of Nelson Mandela Municipality
Honourable Councillors of Sol Plaatjie
Officials from all spheres of government
Distinguished guests
The people of Galeshewe
Ladies and gentlemen

We are assembled here today to witness a unique partnership and launch of the Nodal Economic Development Learning Partnership between three Urban Renewal Nodes, namely; the municipalities of Galeshewe, Mdantsane and Motherwell. This project strategy is unique, because this has never been done before, so we are witnessing a pioneering partnership being launched.

The objective of this partnership is to improve planning, implementation and management of Urban Renewal and Local Economic Development (LED) projects, by sharing information between the three nodes. The purpose is to create a viable tripartite development partnership between the three nodes, with a focus on local economic development, small, medium and micro enterprise development and implementation of projects.

The partnership will be formalised by the municipal mayors of the three Nodes, namely, Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela and Sol Plaatjie who will sign the Memorandum of Understanding, which is an agreement of the criteria for successful projects. This presentation is done in my capacity as the appointed political champion of the Galeshewe Urban Renewal Programme. I am pleased to acknowledge my colleague, Deputy Minister Ntombazana Botha, who is the political champion of both the Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela municipalities, in the Eastern Cape.

The Political Champion: Mandate

Programme Manager, Political Champions (Ministers and Deputy Ministers) have been appointed and deployed by the President across the country in eight different nodes. Galeshewe, Mdantsane and Motherwell form part of the eight Urban Renewal Nodes, where government's mandate is to pool resources from national, provincial and local governments, to fight poverty and underdevelopment.

The Department Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) have a government-wide co-ordination responsibility and governance support through the Urban and Rural Development Branch. At provincial level, MECs, responsible for local government and housing, are political champions and delegated senior government officials play the technical championship role. At the nodal municipal level, the municipal mayors are political champions and municipal managers are the technical champions. With regard to the latter sphere, Urban Renewal Programme (URP) Management units have been set up and are fully functional.

The mainstreaming of the URP into the Lekgotla and Government Clusters with the Social Sector Cluster being the co-ordination driver, is a major landmark development as it provides for an opportunity of feeding lessons from the URP into national policy, get tested in the nodes and find applicability in other areas with similar development challenges. Important also in the mainstreaming exercise is the Urban Renewal Forum (URF) which is a government and governance wide co-ordination structure for the URP.

At a planning level, the significant development is that the Cabinet Lekgotla has resolved that "work on the nodes be integral to departmental strategic plans and annual reports" and "each national department must increase its technical support to the nodes." This would allow for the strengthening of intergovernmental co-operation which is a critical mainstay for the success of the URP.

The other developments around planning are that nodal planning is now mainstreamed as part of the Municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), and that Nodal Business Plans have been formulated and finalised across all the Nodes, though clear costing parameters are still being finalised.

The involvement of the development co-operation/donor community at planning and technical assistance level around the URP needs to be commended as this provides one of the most important impetuses to the governance element of the programme.

The Galeshewe, Motherwell and Mdantsane learning partnerships

This is partnership provides for knowledge exchange and learning between the Galeshewe Urban Renewal Programme in the Northern Cape, and Mdantsane and Motherwell Urban Renewal Programmes in the Eastern Cape. The key thrust of the partnership is small, medium and micro enterprise development, economic development strategy development and programme and project management of economic development initiatives. The main objective of the learning partnership is to improve planning, implementation and management of Urban Renewal and LED projects, by sharing information between three nodes.

This will be done through a series of activities that will among other include:

1. Create a viable tripartite development partnership between three Urban Renewal Nodes, i.e. Galeshewe, Mdantsane and Motherwell, with a focus on LED, SMME development and implementation of projects with social impact areas.
2. Create a project based partnership, network of various types of projects with a primarily LED focus.
3. Benchmarking, monitoring and evaluation of sustainable projects.
4. Create winning marketing and communication mechanisms.
5. Share lessons on Social Impact methodology and implementation of social projects.
6. Share lessons on LED methodology, implementation, comparison of LED, sustainability strategies and SMME strategies between nodes and social impact areas.
7. Review of institutional arrangements, feedback on pro's and cons of different organisational forms and structure.

The partnership is not only learning from the three signatories, but also other key state development agencies and non governmental agencies, and provincial and national departments.

Best nodal practices on Local Economic Development will be documented, institutionalised and systematically shared as a way of creating sustainable capacity in the municipalities concerned. The parties are therefore called upon to identify partners who can significantly contribute toward this noble cause. Contribution by partners for this exercise can be expressed in different forms, and any form that will result in accelerating local economic intelligence will be appreciated.

The national URP offices will continue to support the partnership with respect to:

1. resources mobilisation through partnership networks
2. research on common threads and trend identification
3. identification of key players who will add value to the cause
4. improving systems for knowledge management and sharing.

It is important for the local political players to support the initiative and allow space for learning activities, the exercise is not only for officials, but at the same time councillors must embrace and support it wholly.

Role of the province and district municipality

The province must establish cross-cutting support measures for the URP and create forum where obstacles and impediments could be dealt with. Some of the key projects that are probable within the Memorandum of Understanding will need extensive provincial support measures. That means the provincial structures such as the budgetary forum, Mayoral Forum and other important functions must start deliberating on the future and form of urban renewal as well as the identification of key and strategic functions.

The URP model is based on functional intergovernmental relations. Therefore, it has become important for the district also to dedicate reasonable capacity to support the Galeshewe economic development measures. The district should be involved in learning activities that comes under the auspices of this Understanding. As such, the district is an integral part of the system.

The Nodal Economic Profile

The recently accomplished Nodal Economic Profile which identifies a set of projects, key players and practical methodologies for catalysing them is a step in the right in the right direction to inculcate the culture of entrepreneurship, empowerment as well creating a model for sustainable partnerships. The profiles do not replace the Municipal economic development strategy but take the strategy to the next level of practical implementation and also makes sure that the government machinery is geared up to support development initiatives.

In short the profiles:

1. provides a spatial and economic analysis of each node
2. highlight key strategic interventions from business perspective
3. identify role and responsibilities of public sector institutions
4. advises on viability of some business forms and structure
5. highlights the role of public finance
6. are consistent with City wide LED and Integrated Development Plan
7. encourages entrepreneurship and partnerships
8. are user friendly and stimulate economic thinking process
9. creates momentum for sustainable communities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Programme Manager, the Urban Renewal Programme as a presidential programme has heralded and elevated the concept of Local Economic Development, and secondly, has elevated the functionality of intergovernmental relations. What we are witnessing is an inter-municipal relation for local economic development. All institutions in government and other forms must mobilise their resources to support this excellent programme.

Thank you to all the political champions, officials, people from business enterprises and community members who took time out to be here today. I must thank MEC Goolam Akharwaray who is here today because of the special importance that this initiative is placed within a Social Development and Welfare context. We want to see all people become economically self-reliant, and not dependent on grants. Therefore, this partnership is encouraged to grow from strength to strength.

I thank you.

Enquiries:
Ms Zingaphi Jakuja
Deputy Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 012 3127381
Cell: 074 197 8383
E-mail: zingaphim@dsd.gov.za

Issued by: Department of Social Development
7 September 2007