Ministers of COGTA and DSBD to convene the National Local Economic Development Conference
The Ministers of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and Small Business Development (DSBD) invites members of the media to cover the first National Local Economic Development Conference as follows:
Date: 09 & 10 November 2017
Time: 08h00
Venue: Saint George’s Conference Centre – Irene (Gauteng)
The 2017 National LED Conference provides a strategic platform for a dialogue between public and private sector to interchange on topical and critical issues relating to stimulating local economies. The Conference will also allow stakeholders to interact, share information on successes and constraints, with particular emphasis on how to achieve inclusive economic development at local government.
The conference will present an opportunity to craft a new South African LED agenda aimed at contributing towards achieving radical economic transformation. It will also reflect on the South African experiences in implementing LED. Section B. 2.3 of the White Paper on Local Government deals specifically with the functional area of Local Economic Development. It acknowledges that local government can play an important role in promoting job creation and boosting the local economy by investing in what it terms “the basics” (i.e. providing good quality cost-effective services); reviewing existing policies and procedures to promote local economic development; and the provision of special economic services.
Based on the above, the Local Economic Development (LED) function of DCoG and DSBD is centred on providing support to municipalities in the creation and promotion of an enabling environment for economic growth and job creation. Both Departments do not directly implement projects to create jobs. As such, job creation is not a direct key performance area of the Department in Local Economic Development.
Enquiries:
Legadima Leso
Cell: 083 378 9495 – CoGTA
Cornelius Monama
Cell: 060 960 3158 – DSBD
