STATEMENT BY BORAINE - RURAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLICY

Issued by: Department of Constitutional Development

STATEMENT BY MR ANDREW BORAINE, ACTING DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON THE RURAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLICY CONFERENCE.

The Local Government Transition Act, 1993 provides for the election of democratic local government in rural areas for the first time in our history. The Act also provides for the nomination of interest groups to elected structures, including farmers, farmworkers, women and traditional leaders.

The Local Government MINMEC decided that the Department of Constitutional Development should convene a Rural Local Government Policy Conference to review progress on the implementation of the Local Government system. All rural local government stakeholders have been invited to the conference.

The specific objectives of the conference are:

• to provide an opportunity for stakeholders in rural local government to interact with each other;
• to build a common vision of rural development;
• to identify a specific role for local government structures in the development of rural areas;
• to identify current problems in the establishment of rural local government structures, in particular representation, powers and functions, finance and capacity;
• to identify possible mechanisms for the resolution of problems; and
• to identify issues for inclusion in the proposed Transition to Local Democracy Bill and the local government white paper.

The conference will be held from 26 to 27 March 1996.

Enquiries: Andrew Boraine at 021 - 461 0330 on 20 March and from 11:30 to 14:30 at 012 - 341 2473 on 22 March 1996.