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25 May 2020 GRDM holds 2-day Institutional Strategic Planning Session to discuss its strategic direction

Press Release

25 May 2020

For Immediate Release

Councillors and management from Garden Route District Municipality, together with representatives from labour unions and various government stakeholders, on 7 and 11 May 2020, convened through a virtual platform, a Strategic Planning Session, to review all operations of the municipality since July to March 2020 and also to discuss the strategic direction that the municipality aims to undertake over the short- and long term.

This annual engagement, as described by the facilitator, Dr Florus Prinsloo, allowed all participants to share their inputs with regards to the damage that the COVID-19 pandemic has done to the economy of the district and also the district’s readiness and the interventions of the municipality to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

When describing the objective of the session, Executive Mayor of GRDM, Councillor Memory Booysen, emphasised the importance of all stakeholders, especially representatives from the various political parties, around one table to discuss strategic issues of the municipality.

With reference to the COVID-19 pandemic that also affects the rest of the work, including Garden Route,, Executive  Mayor Booysen said: “Nobody foresaw that by this time, we would all be affected by this pandemic”. He said: “We all have had to change our lifestyles; we now have to change our management styles as well as our political approach to provide direction to the management in our collective fight of this pandemic. We must use this time as an opportunity to prepare ourselves for change. All the initiatives we are busy with are all enforced by COVID-19. Some would not be sustainable and affordable, but we know that some initiatives have to be adjusted. We now have to realign how we use to do business and how we are going to adapt to the new norm,” Mayor Booysen added.

Municipal Manager of GRDM, Mr Monde Stratu, acknowledged that the pandemic has revealed the levels of poverty in South Africa, e.g. hunger, inhumane settlements etc., but also at the same time how the pandemic brought to the fore that government indeed works. He said: “As we plan for the new financial year, it will not be the same going forward. We have to re-look and review our strategies”.

Mr Stratu also provided feedback about the compliance of all committees from July to date and reported that all Council meetings that were scheduled to take place have been executed, all reports that were prepared to serve at oversight committees were processed and the annual report was approved in time. He furthermore provided an update on the application for GRDM to be registered as a Water Service Authority as well as an update regarding the catalytic projects such as the fresh produce market ,Renewable Energy Projects, Development Agency etc. which are still in its planning phases.

In respect of intergovernmental relations and public participation all forums took place including IDP forums. Mr Stratu furthermore reported that the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan and all planning processes to review the IDP and Budget have been undertaken and that all required financial reports have been submitted to the relevant structures. He therefore extended a word of appreciation to the political leadership for their role to ensure that the municipality complied with these legislative requirements. Mr Stratu also remembered and acknowledged the late Cllr Nomhiki Jacobs who participated in all these initiatives to ensure that Council adhered to all legislative requirements, however she sadly passed away on 18 March 2020.

In going forward, Mr Stratu highlighted the municipality is in a financially stable position, however, he said: “We now have to make serious changes in terms of the long term sustainability of the municipality”. He also acknowledged that the Cost Containment Regulations contributed to various strategies that had to be reviewed as many tourism and other projects came to a halt due to the lockdown.  He concluded with the following words:  “As a Council we do have the political will and we are confident to do everything possible to reignite the economy of the Garden Route in order to take our rightful place as a district municipality and lead as our vision reads”.

Dr Michael Sutcliffe, former City Manager of eThekwini Municipality made a presentation on the Municipal functions as outlined in section 84 of the Structures Act. He shared some findings on the research he has done on this functions and the recommendations that will be made with regards to possible review of Section 84 and 85 of the Structures Act. He acknowledged that the Garden Route District Municipality is capable of performing the functions of the district as outlined in Section 84. Dr Sutcliffe made an example that a district fresh model idea would address the needs of both the most impoverished communities to the richest of the rich.

Mr Walton Carelse from the Western Cape Government presented the Joint District Approach that started in July 2018. The model was developed in conjunction with Local Municipalities and was introduced at the Garden Route Municipal Managers Forum on 4 December 2018. The model included the identification and assessment of Municipal priorities throughout the district and developing a consolidated approach in achieving those priorities. Through these platforms the following themes were created to group the challenges of the municipalities, namely: climate change and water security, local economic development, immigration and urbanisation, infrastructure management, institutional governance, data management, intergovernmental planning alignment, partnering, partnerships and shared services, financial sustainability, citizen interface, political, administrative and social instability and waste management. Each district municipality had to identify their two/three top priorities from  the five top priorities identified across the Western Cape namely: community participation, infrastructure management, urbanisation, climate change and water security, as well as waste management. All these were identified prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now the municipality may have to review the priorities, in light of  Covid-19 pandemic. Currently the District has identified the following priorities from the broad themes:

  • Growing the Regional Economy
  • Developing Resilience as a Region
  • Integrated Management for Good Governance
  • Liveable Cities/Towns Social Cohesion
  • Sustainable Human Settlements

When presenting the COVID-19 Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) support programme, Mr Rashid Teofy, Head of the Western Cape Government COVID-19 Economic Cluster, together with members of the Cluster, explained the role of the Cluster since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. These include the access to incentives, the collating of information on all support measures to ensure that these are available to SMMEs etc. Furthermore, together with Provincial Treasury, a database has also been developed to deal with personal protective equipment, which municipalities and government departments can access for procurement of personal protective equipment such as cloth masks. Together with this, WESGRO created a platform for the private sector where suppliers and buyers can interact with one another regarding Covid 19 PPE. The unit also engages with businesses and banks on a bi-weekly basis to discuss the challenges of SMMEs. Another initiative that is also in its planning phase is to transform spaza shops into mini supermarkets which will allow a more sophisticated shopping experience for the community.

The concept of a digital economy was furthermore presented, whereby various components and services have been brought into one platform that can be accessed by SMMEs as a guideline or a digital support tool. The platform, known as Jump for Entrepreneurs, furthermore seeks to assist small businesses to become more competitive and have access to more markets. This tool can be accessed via www.bizjump.co.za. The platform is updated on a regular basis and businesses are therefore encouraged to upload their profiles to interact with other businesses and remain competitive in this digital age.

The second day’s activities were in the form of presentations presented by the different Head of departments within the municipality.  Executive Managers used the opportunity to reflect on the past financial year’s achievements as well as the challenges experienced.  Councillors were enlightened with departments’ objective and strategies for the next financial year.  The impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on service delivery was also discussed. These presentations outlined various exciting projects that the Municipality will be engaged in to ensure self-sustainability and improve the regional economy.

ENDS