21 March 2006
Premier Dipuo Peters of the Northern Cape Province today announced a new
bold development partnership with an organisation from Belgium called
International Economic Strategy (IES) to execute a wide ranging rapid economic
and social development programme in the Northern Cape Province.
Whilst announcing this surgical strike, Premier Peters promised to ensure a
blistering pace in attacking the posted goals of job creation, poverty
reduction and economic growth. This initiative has been designed to fast track
the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS) in line with Accelerated
and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA).
Citing current development targets which include maintaining average annual
economic growth rate of between four to six percent, halving unemployment rate
by 2014 reducing the number of households living in absolute poverty by five
percent per annum, improving literacy rate by 50 percent by 2014, reducing
infant mortality by two-thirds by 2014. Furthermore reducing crime by 10
percent by 2014 and providing adequate infrastructure for economic growth as
well as development by 2014. Premier Peters stated that the Northern Cape
Government would seek to beat these forecasts by a clear margin, acting as a
pace setter for other South African provinces.
IES is pioneering a path breaking rapid concurrent development (RCD)
strategy in the Northern Cape designed to secure coherent multi sector growth
in emerging African markets. Through the RCD, IES will deploy a number of
important initiatives that will impact significantly on key economic drivers in
the province. Crime reduction and social engineering will be important features
of the IES strategy monitored by a robust and rigorous reporting and assessment
methodology.
Whilst a key focus of the IES project is diamonds and diamond related
beneficiation, the strategy for Northern Cape development extends far beyond
diamonds and minerals to broad based development, job creation, poverty
reduction, education and skills building, foreign direct investment (FDI) and
tourism.
The Presidency has committed to backing a diamond renaissance for the
heritage rich Northern Cape Province. Together with IES, the province will
review diamond based opportunities including diamond recovery, polishing,
jewellery design and manufacturing and leveraging a novel tourism strategy
linked to diamonds.
The Northern Cape Provincial Government believes that along with the drivers
of the economy, tourism can strongly boost job creation. IES is developing
strategies to implement the Northern Cape white paper on tourism and this is
envisaged to transform the tourism and travel proposition of the province.
A key aspect for the Northern Cape strategic plan will be the deployment of
wide ranging educational facilities and input to assist in skills and
technology transfer in the diamond and jewellery sector. As the conceptual
founder of the Diamond Jewellery and Management Institute (DJMI) in Antwerp,
Marcel Pruwer of IES has agreed to review how DJMI tailored courses can be made
available to students and industry apprentices. Furthermore, education and
skills training will be facilitated for a variety of other trades and
occupations in the province.
The Head of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Patrick Seboko, is
appointing the A-team that will be responsible for implementing an aggressive
strategy developed by IES. IES Managing Director Marcel Pruwer and his team
will interact with the Kimberley A-team to deploy the strategy around the
province.
Seboko expressed confidence that through the commitment to growth and
cooperation by all provincial departments, coordinated by the DEA and the
A-team, the unfolding rapid concurrent development (RCD) strategy would become
a role model for other regions. Seboko added that ongoing discussions and
cooperation between DEA, IES and provincial stakeholders will provide a strong
backbone and an enabling logistics and support framework for provincial
government - IES program. The stakeholders will look at issues of safety and
security, youth, culture, tourism education and health.
After visiting the Northern Cape Province and holding intensive and far
ranging discussions with leading stakeholders IES has refined its joint
strategy with the office of the Premier and the DEA so as to complement
national and provincial development priorities including small, medium and
micro enterprises (SMMEs), black economic empowerment (BEE), local economic
development (LED), gender empowerment and poverty reduction (GEPR).
Premier Peters expects the RCD initiative to address urgent economic and
social imperatives and the creative, focused partnership with international
economic strategy to be widely monitored for performance, in this regard.
Background
The biggest challenge for the province remains the unacceptably high levels
of unemployment. This is compounded by communities over relying on social
security grants such as the disability and child support grants and the
unavailability of job opportunities for school leaving men and women a well as
graduates.
The challenge is to provide more than adequate services to a populace that
is two percent of the general South African citizenry spread over more than 30
percent of the South African land mass. To this end the provincial government
in partnership with IES is determined to create a local and foreign investor
friendly economic environment that will unleash the full human and economic
resource potential of the Northern Cape Province.
For further information contact:
Zodwa Thebeyapelo
Tel: (053) 830 8600
Cell: 083 255 8849
Fax: (053) 831 1023
E-mail: jpaulse@leg.ncape.gov.za
Lerato Jabane
Tel: (053) 839 4000
Cell: 082 712 9370
Fax: (053) 832 6805
Email: ygqabaza@met.ncape.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Economic Affairs, Northern Cape Provincial
Government
21 March 2006
