The Vice President of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) Inkosi Ntuthuko Khuzwayo said it was imperative that the national government reached out to rural communities and inform them about their offerings in the language that they understand better.
He was speaking at an empowerment and enterprise development workshop that was hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) at KwaNgcolosi, near Hillcrest in KwaZulu-Natal yesterday. Traditional leaders, municipalities, civic organisations, aspirant entrepreneurs and local business people from Ilembe and Umgungudlovu district municipalities and eThekwini Metro attended the event.
“A lot of government information is provided in a language that many people do not understand well, and through channels such as internet that people struggle to access. Partnerships and campaigns like these will ensure that government comes down to the people and assist them with access to their services and products,” said Khuzwayo.
He added that government was in the right direction to protect indigenous knowledge through the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill on Indigenous Knowledge as it was its responsibility to ensure that rural communities benefit commercially from their indigenous knowledge.
The workshop was the result of a Memorandum of Agreement that DTI and the Contralesa signed in Pretoria in the November last year. DTI and Contralesa agreed to form a partnership and work together in taking DTI to the rural people to inform them about the department’s products and services, and to assist them to establish and grow business enterprises as part of the rural economic development programme.
DTI Director of Strategy and Special Projects Ms Busisiwe Ngwenya, told the gathering that the department was committed to ensuring that rural communities were not only as aware of its products and services as their counterparts in the urban areas, but were assisted to access them.
“This event is part of the rollout of the DTI's activities to the rural and peri-urban communities. Today’s event is the first of a series of workshops that the department will be holding throughout the country. The purpose of these workshops is to interact with rural communities in order to establish your requirements and needs and what kind of assistance can DTI provide,” said Ngwenya.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe (Departmental Spokesperson)
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
National Government must come down to rural people – Contralesa leader
