Programme Director;
Your Worship the Mayor of the Mandeni Municipality, Councillor, Zulu;
The Speaker of the Municipality; Councillor Mfekayi;
Members of Exco Present;
Esteemed Representatives from the business community;
Esteemed Representatives from the civil society;
Dignitaries Present;
Ladies and gentlemen;
All protocol observed.
On behalf of the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal and the people of this province, we wish to start by expressing our sincere gratitude for being part of this auspicious occasion where we are meeting to map out a new economic trajectory for this municipality which is located in one of the critical corridors of our province.
From the onset, Programme Director, allow us to extend our sincere apologies on behalf of MEC Mabuyakhulu who could not be with us this morning because of other pressing engagements.
Programme Director, we wish to start by congratulating the Mandeni Municipality for deciding to hold such a critical summit to discuss how we can ensure that local economic development is put at the apex of our list of priorities in this municipality. But, more importantly, we wish to also give this municipality a pat on the back for bringing so many diverse stakeholders to this gathering. We have no doubt that what will emerge out of this summit will be a collective product that will be owned by all of us.
This, in our view, is critical not only because there is no sector which has a monopoly on how best to fashion a new economic vision for this municipality, but also because in order for local economic development to be a success it needs an inclusive approach from all stakeholders in that particular locality. After all, local economic development is not only the heartbeat of any municipality but it is also the lifeblood of all thriving municipalities.
Critically, the reality is that given the challenges of our times no municipality can function effectively without a coherent and compelling local economic development strategy. The fact is that, in our view, municipalities can no longer afford to view themselves as purveyors of social services such as water and electricity only but they have a greater role in their own localities to be a springboard of economic development.
In order to do this, municipalities need to develop a strategy that will look at, among others, how to optimally utilise its existing resources, what are its comparative and its competitive advantages, which sectors can the municipality use as anchors for economic growth and critically, how to attract investment from provincial, national and international investors.
Programme Director, as all of us know, we live in an era which has been dubbed as globalisation, which is characterised by, among other key features, capital mobility. This means that a municipality which is on top of its game can be a citadel of development by sharpening and harnessing its competitive and comparative advantages and can attract investment even from beyond its immediate borders.
Programme Director, in discussing this critical topic of Local Economic Development, we believe that we need to start from the basics and ask the rudimentary question: what is local economic development? While preparing for this address we came across many definitions, however, there is one which we thought was apt by the World Bank which describes Local Economic Development as such:
“The purpose of the local economic development strategy is to build the economic capacity of a local area to improve its economic future and the quality of life for all. It is a process by which public, business and non-governmental sector partners work collectively to create better conditions for economic growth and employment generation.”
We could not agree more with this definition. This is line with the objectives of this summit which is to:
- develop a similar strategic goal for all LED stakeholders involved in the local economy;
- ensure good partnership between the public, private and civil society economic sectors;
- set targets and define those that need to be prioritised;
- delegate tasks and define roles and responsibilities for the key stakeholders and
- identify and allocate the resources required to achieve set objectives.
Programme Director, it, therefore, stands to reason, in our view, that local economic development is about a particular community improving its investment climate and business enabling environment to enhance its competitiveness, retain jobs and improve its standard of living.
In our view a sound local economic development strategy should look at, among others, the following issues:
- Ensuring that the local investment climate is functional for local businesses;
- Supporting small and medium sized enterprises;
- Encouraging the formation of new enterprises;
- Attracting external investment (nationally and internationally);
- Investing in physical (hard) infrastructure;
- Investing in soft infrastructure (educational and workforce development, institutional support systems and regulatory issues);
- Supporting the growth of particular clusters of businesses;
- Targeting particular parts of the city for regeneration or growth (areas based initiatives);
- Supporting informal and newly emerging businesses;
- Ensuring that municipal resources are deployed in such a way that they have a catalytic effect in the local economy
Programme Director, in order for a municipality to put together a credible local economic development strategy one of the key issues it needs to deal with is where is it located in relation to the global economy of that area?
According to your Five Year Development Plan, Mandeni Municipality is “strategically located between two of Africa’s largest trade ports i.e. Durban and Richards Bay with the N2 eThekwini-iLembe uThungulu Corridor, passing through its economic core”. But, more importantly, the Mandeni municipality is located along one of the biggest corridors in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, the Durban-Richards Bay corridor.
It is also located next to one of the biggest economic flagships of the province, the Dube Trade Port, incorporating the King Shaka International Airport. Not only has the construction of this development changed the economic trajectory of this province, but it has turned the province into a real logistics hub of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
Today our province is the only province which has sea, rail, air and road logistics platforms. But as government, we want this development to have a knock on effect and trigger other developments along the Durban-Richards Bay corridor which, in the fullness of time, will result in Durban and Richards Bay, literally, becoming one city.
This development presents a number of opportunities for the Mandeni Municipality which is situated along this corridor. This means that in developing your strategy you must ensure that it is not done in isolation from other developments in the province. For example, this province has developed the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy which is aimed at ensuring that by 2030 this province becomes an economic powerhouse and that the lives of the people of KwaZulu-Natal are changed for the better.
The plan is aligned to other documents such as the National Development Plan, IPlanP2 and the New Growth Path. In our view, we, therefore, believe that in developing your strategy you must also see to it that its begins to talk to the provincial growth and development strategy in order to ensure that there is seamless planning between your municipality and the provincial and national government. For example, it is interesting to note that you have identified among others, agriculture and tourism as one of the sectors around which you want to anchor your economic grow. These are also the sectors which have also been identified in the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy.
Programme Director, In KwaZulu-Natal, we have already identified the industrial hubs in all districts which will form a critical element and feeder to our designated special economic zones (SEZs). Each and every district will focus on the aspect of economy in which it has strong competitive and comparative advantages. Cognisant of the fact that not all our industrial hubs will be designated as special economic zones, we are now in the process of identifying anchor provincial SEZs which will have backward and forward linkages with the identified district hubs.
During our department’s budget speech early this year we deliberated on this matter extensively. We said for instance, the district of ILembe, of which Mandeni and surroundings are located, we have identified sectors such as renewable energy production as an industrial hub. We, therefore, believe that this strategy will not be complete if it does not talk to that. Lastly in our view, Programme Director, we believe that this summit would be a success if it is able to create a vision around which to rally all stakeholders, develop a set of goals that needs to be achieved, develop specific objectives and then develop programmes and projects to achieve the objective.
But, more critically, a strategy is but a piece of paper no matter how noble and lofty the ideals contained in it. It can only yield the desired results if all of us work together to ensure that it is implemented.
This, therefore, means that all stakeholders gathered here have an equal responsibility to ensure that the strategy which will be developed at this summit contains concrete proposals, with clear and precise time lines. But, more importantly, we all have to work in unison to ensure that is implemented, understanding that the benefits that will accrue out of this process will be shared by all the people of Mandeni.
In conclusion, Programme Director, we want to remind all of us that all the people of this municipality have their eyes trained at this summit and their hopes and aspirations are that this summit will come up with concrete proposals on how to turn this municipality into an economic giant in the short to long term. This summit can, therefore, ill-afford to be another platform where we meet to trade polemics and argue for the sake of arguing about this or the other “ism”.
The reality is that our country is sitting on a ticking time bomb because of the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and unemployment. We, however, have no doubt that you will live up to the challenge of fashioning a new economic road map for the Mandeni Municipality by making this summit a success. We have no doubt that this summit will be remembered as the turning point in the history of this municipality.
I thank you.
