Response remarks by Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa at the Presidential eThekwini Working Group engagement
Programme Director, His Excellency, the President of the Republic of South Africa; Ministers and Deputy Ministers present; Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Thami Ntuli; Mayor of eThekwini, Councillor Cyril Xaba; MECs, DG Baleni and senior officials; Traditional & Khoi-San leaders Leaders of business, organised labour and civil society; Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen…
I rise as the lead department entrusted with ensuring the full intergovernmental coordination and alignment of the Presidential Working Group’s initiatives.
Mr. President, thank you for your clear marching orders and for placing this engagement firmly in the space of action and accountability. This Working Group was established to bring coherence across spheres of government and social partners, and to translate that coherence into delivery that communities and investors can feel and see. Your guidance today sharpens that mission as we move decisively into the second phase of this initiative.
As the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, our responsibility is to ensure the intergovernmental machinery runs on time and in the same direction. We will therefore align our support with the priorities you have outlined and embed them squarely within the District Development Model and the eThekwini One Plan, so that decisions taken here are executed through a single, accountable system rather than through parallel processes. In practical terms, this means tightening escalation pathways from technical teams to political principals, harmonising reporting, and removing duplication, so that what we agree here converts into visible outcomes in communities and economic nodes.
Your Excellency, you have emphasised shifting from stabilisation to catalytic growth, positioning eThekwini as an investable, functional metro. CoGTA will back that shift in three ways. First, by reinforcing institutional capability at the municipal level, so that leadership stability, governance discipline, and financial integrity remain non-negotiable foundations for everything else. Second, by supporting the City and our partners to use the Partnerships Framework and DDM structures to crowd in investment where it accelerates infrastructure and service reliability. Third, by ensuring that the new economic development focus within the Working Group is properly integrated into the One Plan architecture, enabling reforms and precinct-level delivery move in step.
Your Excellency, your call to improve service reliability while unlocking growth is heard. We will support the City and line departments in focusing the next tranche of effort where it matters most, for instance, accelerating water and sanitation upgrades and reducing non-revenue water; improving electricity distribution reliability alongside the city’s IPP pathway; and consolidating the gains in safety and security coordination that underpin business and community confidence. The technical details sit with the relevant Workstreams and Clusters, but the political instruction is clear: align, execute, report, and course-correct quickly.
Equally, Your Excellency highlighted the importance of building institutional, economic, and civic confidence. CoGTA will work with the Mayor, Premier, and social partners to strengthen ward-level participation and communication, so that citizens see and shape the improvements in their communities. We will also support the Presidency in convening regular, structured stock-takes that keep everyone, across government, business, and labour, honest about what has moved and what still needs to move. This is how we deepen the culture of joint accountability that the Working Group was created to model.
To business and labour, thank you for staying at the table and for bringing solutions, not just critiques. Your partnership will remain essential as Phase Two targets the levers of growth, industrial zones, development approvals, and urban regeneration that crowd in private capital while protecting public purpose. CoGTA’s commitment is to keep the system predictable and coordinated, so that your investment and job-creating efforts land faster and with less friction.
Mr. President, you have set the tone. Allow me to affirm, on behalf of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, that we will translate that tone into disciplined follow-through: tightening intergovernmental coordination, accelerating decisions through the DDM and One Plan, and reporting progress with clarity. The people of eThekwini should experience the benefits not in our speeches but in reliable services, safer precincts, and growing opportunities. That is the standard we set for ourselves today.
Thank you.
#GovZAUpdates
