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In her capacity as Leader of Government, Nomusa Dube-Ncube will today launch Operation Khawuleza at Dukuza Sports Ground in Bergville. She will be joined by uThukela District Mayor Cllr Siphiwe Mazibuko, Okhahlamba Local Municipality Mayor Cllr Mlungisi Dlangisa and entire local leadership representing different sectors including traditional leadership.

Describing it as a tool to bridge the gap between communities and prosperity, she remarked about the District Service Delivery Model: “Last week, the President of the Republic of South Africa His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet laid a firm foundation for all of us to accelerate service delivery. The District Service Delivery model launched in Durban is already serving as a blue print on how to intervene decisively to turn around the situation.”

“We are working closely with the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Sipho Hlomuka to ensure that an integrated approach is adopted and utilized to lift millions of people out of abject poverty. A silo approach on service delivery is the thing of the past. President Ramaphosa has emphasized that we must have a profile of households in our wards using Operation Sukuma Sakhe. All government departments must move with speed to provide services required my communities.”

She further quipped: “Today we convened a joint sitting of the district council in order to assess the impact of service delivery in uThukela District. We believe that all stakeholders must work together and have constant dialogue. This will ensure that there is joint ownership of local development. We need to harness the local energy by engaging in an inclusive exercise that will help bridge the gap between communities and prosperity. We want the leadership across all municipalities in this district to work with traditional, religious leaders and other leaders of society.”

“We all know that under the apartheid government, there was no dedicated programme to improve living conditions of people living in rural areas. Under this democratic government, we now have Rural Development Department which was created to speed up development in rural areas.”

She explained: “We have the Small Town Rehabilitation Programme spearheaded by COGTA. This is aimed at the rehabilitation of small rural towns and to attract investments. We want to prevent the migration of people to bigger cities in search of job opportunities and a better life.”

“Through the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, we want to bring development to these areas. We had a meeting with an international development bank with a view of securing funding for the Drakensberg Cable Car.This is a public-private partnership that will assist in increasing the number of tourists who visit Drakensberg and surrounding areas. Tourists will bring much needed jobs and create revenue for the local municipalities. Ultimately, there will be more development, resulting in well-paying job opportunities. It is such development that will absorb many unemployed young people and graduates who are trained in different sectors of our economy.

She stressed: “We are also encouraging local tourism as part of promoting entrepreneurship. You have an opportunity to own Bread and Breakfast establishments to accommodate tourists. In this regard, we have made available funding through Operation Vula Fund. We have mandated our entities - the KZN Growth Fund and Ithala Bank - to provide funding to locally based entrepreneurs. These includes co-operatives and SMMEs owned by women, youth and people living with disability.

She concluded: “Because October is transport month, we spent the greater part of the morning conducting roadblocks in Bergville. All of us as members of the executive council we are supporting a call made by the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison Bheki Ntuli that all stakeholders in the transport sector must work with all spheres of government to ensure the safety and transformation of the public transport system.”

“In particular, without adequate infrastructure, socio-economic development will remain a pipedream. It is for these reasons the ANC government in KZN has undertaken to intensify the construction of road infrastructure in areas that were previously neglected. We wish to express our firm commitments towards fast-tracking the entry of taxi operators into other entire value chain of the transport industry.”

“We identified the automobile manufacturing and supply, aviation sector, energy supply such as petrol, oil and gas, travel and tourism, including luxury bus operations to serve the hospitality industry and ever growing international conferencing business sector. Venturing into these sectors of the economy will help grow the industry and redress imbalances in relation to ownership in the entire value chain of the transport industry.”

She revealed: “Few years ago we launched the United Front Against Crime involving communities and leaders of society. I know that local communities in this area often have to bear the brunt of stock theft. You are even more vulnerable as you live closer to the border between South Africa and Lesotho.”

She concluded with a message of hope: “In order to fight stock theft and other forms of crime in the area, we have resolved to strengthen the United Fight Against Crime by incorporating the District Service Delivery model. We want to put an end to stock theft as it wipes away any possible reserves you have. The livestock is part of the economy of rural people. The seriousness of this matter has prompted us to move with speed to deal with this issue.”

Issued by the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs