The Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ms Nomalungelo Gina will visit the Northern Cape coastal town of Port Nolloth from 3-4 May 2021, where she will hold a meeting with the leadership of the Richtersveld Local Municipality and other stakeholders, in her capacity as the champion of the District Development Model (DDM) for Namakwa District.
Gina will be accompanied by the Mayor of the Namakwa District Municipality, Councillor Mervin Cloete and hosted by the Mayor of the Richtersveld Local Municipality, Councillor Arthur Jansen.
The DDM technical and political work in the district has produced a Nine-Point Plan on key developmental priorities for the district. These will be implemented in various local municipalities through collaboration of the district leadership as well as the provincial and national governments. The plan seeks to drive socio-economic development across the district’s six local municipalities thorough various measures such as infrastructure revitalisation from harbours to small towns, and harnessing minerals economy, agriculture and fisheries.
“We are looking forward to the engagements in Port Nolloth as we expect them to facilitate the successful implementation of the Nine-Point strategy throughout the district with the aim of changing the lives of the people of the district for the better. One of the interventions proposed by the Plan is the revitalisation of the Port Nolloth Harbour in order to stimulate various economic activities around the port that will also benefit small and medium enterprises,” says Gina.
She adds that the host municipality will also get an opportunity to provide a brief on key projects whose rollout can be expedited by the participation or support of both provincial and national governments, as well as various agencies of government.
Gina will spend the second day of her engagements conducting site visits to some of the areas where infrastructure projects in the Namakwa District Development Plan are located within Port Nolloth town.
“These engagements and site visits provide us with an opportunity to make an assessment of economic opportunities that are available in various towns on the Namakwa district that we can explore together with all the stakeholders, for the benefit of the residents. The aim is to ensure that there is fast-tracked and measurable implementation of projects which will impact positively on the socio-economic lives of the people of the district, in line with the objectives of the District Development Model,” says Gina.
Namakwa is one of the 44 districts around the country where the District Development Model, which was adopted by Cabinet in August 2019, will be rolled out to speed up service delivery and economic development, including job creation. The objective of the model is to coordinate a government response to the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. The DDM propagates efficient implementation of practical solutions to the socio-economic challenges that people experience in various parts of the country.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
