|
Honourable Premier, Mayors and Councillors, Members of the Mayoral Committee, Traditional leaders and community organisations leaders, Distinguished guests, Fellow residence of Thabo Mofutsanyana Municipal District,
Good morning to you all. It is indeed an honour for me personally as an activist who cut his teeth in the Province of the Free State to be one of the designated District Development Model (DDM) Champions of Thabo Mofutsanyana Municipal District by the President of the Republic of South Africa. The moment is even much appreciated as it brings us all together as activists and different, but equal spheres of government to advance and hasten service delivery to our people. We gather at a pivotal moment to reflect on our shared past, assess our current reality, and chart a more hopeful, inclusive future. Let us begin with what we have been tasked to do -the rationale for the District Development Model and the One-Plan Let me begin by recalling what President Cyril Ramaphosa has repeatedly emphasised as the foundational logic for the District Development Model and its attendant One-Plan. In his State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President spoke of the “pattern of operating in silos" that has, over time, resulted in poor coordination, duplication, fragmentation, and sub-optimal service delivery. The President correctly observed that such siloed operations across national departments, provinces, and municipalities have weakened our capacity to respond decisively to poverty, inequality and unemployment. As he put it in a more recent address, “If we are to make good on our promise that the District Development Model represents a new, improved way of bringing development to our people, we must continue in this vein." In his previous speeches and in our government, policy documents, the President has been clear in his messaging that the DDM is intended to ensure One District, One Plan, One Budget - a single, integrated, district-level strategic framework through which all three spheres of government, state entities, stakeholders, and communities align their planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring. Why this approach? Because fragmented planning has often meant that national, provincial and municipal initiatives proceed independently, sometimes with competing priorities, sometimes with overlap, and often without fully leveraging local strengths or coordinating scale. The DDM seeks to reverse this pattern by making districts the landing strip—the place where national aspirations and local realities converge. By doing so, we strengthen oversight, improve accountability, promote local procurement and job creation, mobilise all resources, and focus our efforts on impact rather than process. Over time, cabinet and the Presidency have institutionalised support for DDM, for an example in the 2024–25 budget, it was noted that the DDM One Plans across districts and metros must now be implemented with vigour, and that the institution of intergovernmental Relations (IGR) bolsters the foundation of DDM across spheres. Thus, the DDM and One‑Plan are not abstract ideals, they are the vehicle through which we intend to translate national strategy into tangible outcomes in districts like Thabo Mofutsanyana. Thabo Mofutsanyana as a Rural Nodal Point: Historical Context and Significance Before we look ahead, it is fitting to reflect on the unique history and role of this district. During the presidency of Thabo Mbeki, certain districts were declared rural nodal points—to anchor rural development more deliberately and to concentrate state investment in places with developmental potential but persistent constraints. Thabo Mofutsanyana was one such district deemed worthy of special focus. This designation recognized that areas like ours are at the interface of rural-urban linkages, regional corridors, agriculture, tourism, mining and socio-economic transition. The nodal point status was intended to attract infrastructure investment, anchor services, improve connectivity, and create nodes of growth within rural spaces. While that vision has had mixed trajectory over time, the fact remains, we occupy a strategic place in the Free State, linking upland economies, agricultural hinterlands, and transit routes. Over the years, however, the challenge has been to sustain that momentum, to translate the nodal point status into visible transformation—for roads, broadband, schools, health facilities, markets, agro-processing, small-town infill, and growth corridors. Today, through the DDM and the One-Plan, we have an opportunity to reanimate that nodal point vision—grounded in contemporary tools and with heightened accountability—to accelerate inclusive growth in this district. The Imperative: Call to Action & Implementation for Growth and Inclusion We now stand at a crossroads as many districts, including this one, have indeed developed One Plans, but the work ahead is in implementation. The challenges are many as they manifest in resource constraints, capacity gaps, legacy backlogs, governance pressures. But the urgency cannot wait. Ministerial and departmental commitments, aligned with the presidency, now call for a call to action. Every municipality, provincial department, district agency and local stakeholder must internalise the One‑Plan as their guiding lodestar. No more departmental silos acting in parallel. In every district we must identify 3 to 5 high-impact, bankable projects that can unlock jobs, local procurement, infrastructure and inclusive growth. These are anchor projects around which other efforts can cluster. Real-time monitoring, evaluation and reporting dashboards must become the norm. Metrics must be clearly specified, and political and administrative owners must be held to account for delays or underperformance. DPME has recently launched a Geospatial Information Management Strategy (GIMS). I have impressed on the Team driving this strategy to consider visiting rural areas such as Thabo Mofutsanyana to demonstrate how the tool can provide information on existing catalytic projects and phase at which they are in project implementation. Many municipalities require technical, financial and management support to execute. The state must deploy support units, capacity‑building interventions, and, where necessary, intervention in municipal administration. Government cannot go it alone. We must engage private investors, development finance institutions, community organisations, labour and local businesses, so that the One Plan becomes a shared endeavour and not just a government blueprint. Priority attention must go to historically marginalised groups—women, youth, persons with disabilities, rural households. We must ensure that procurement, employment, social infrastructure, and economic programs benefit the most vulnerable. We must leverage and blend funds, national, provincial, municipal, donor, private sector to ensure that catalytic projects do not stall for lack of money. Innovative funding models (e.g., public‑private partnerships, blended finance, credit enhancement) must be deployed. We must be flexible. Where things are not working, we must course-correct quickly. The One Plan must not be set in stone, but calibrated continuously in response to feedback. This call to action must animate all of us. As President Ramaphosa recently stated when launching the 10‑point economic recovery plan - “We will focus on implementation and delivery." Likewise, in that same announcement he committed that government would, among other interventions, “drive local economic development and investment in local infrastructure … integrate local economic development into the District Development Model and link local infrastructure spending to industrial policy." Framing Thabo Mofutsanyana's Implementation Plan under the 10‑Point Growth and Inclusion Strategy. Let me now sketch how Thabo Mofutsanyana can align its implementation efforts with the national 10‑point plan and anchor concrete actions in this district. - Use preferential electricity tariffs or incentivised supply approaches for agro-industry, mining downstream beneficiation or rural processing hubs in Maluti‑A‑Phofung, QwaQwa corridor or the Harrismith–Bethlehem axis.
- Accelerate investment in roads, bulk infrastructure, broadband, water and sanitation to reduce cost burdens on local businesses and households.
- Anchor one or two special economic or industrial zones or growth nodes (e.g., logistics, agro-processing, tourism clusters) as district catalysts.
- Ensure all infrastructure spending is aligned with spatial priorities in the One Plan, supported by industrial policy, and packaged to attract private co-investment.
- Leverage your strategic corridors (both road and rail) to improve last‑mile connectivity for farmers, miners, tourism circuits.
- Work with Transnet, SANRAL, rail operators and private freight players to strengthen access to national export and distribution networks.
- Reduce logistical costs for producers in the district, especially those in high-potential sectors like horticulture, high-value agriculture, medicinal plants, crafts and tourism.
- Scale up SMME Support, Local Procurement, Job Activation by setting up setting aside district procurement windows (at local & district level) to absorb SMMEs in civil works, maintenance, goods and services.
- Expand public employment initiatives such as community works, resilience programmes, youth service corps aligned with local needs (water, conservation, heritage, roads) so that they are meaningful and linked to skills development.
- Partner with development finance institutions (DFIs), community-based financiers and microcredit programmes to provide blended funding, business development support, market linkage for local entrepreneurs.
- Deploy a district-based project management and implementation unit that can professionalise execution, monitor risk and ensure deliverables.
- Institute cross‑government coordination forums at municipal, provincial and district level to track progress monthly and resolve blockages.
- Build M&E systems, dashboards and feedback loops that allow stakeholders (including communities) to see progress, raise red flags, and hold the system accountable.
- Identify alternative growth nodes beyond mining: agro-processing, rural tourism, eco-tourism circuits (Maluti Mountains), heritage sites, crafts and local manufacturing.
- Support value chains with linkages to markets—local, provincial, national and regional exports—anchoring on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
- Pursue inclusive trade diversification: promote black-owned, women-owned, youth-owned enterprises, and ensure they can supply into local and regional value chains.
- Use spatial planning to densify small towns, encourage urban-rural integration, and avoid sprawl and wastage of resources.
- In this district budget processes, we must embed the One Plan priorities as binding spending commitments.
- Work with provincial and national departments to ensure co-funding, alignment and avoid duplication.
- Advocate for ring-fenced or priority funding for catalytic projects in underdeveloped districts such as this one.
- Use metric-based accountability and performance dashboards to oversee that fund align with results, not just inputs.
In short, every priority in the 10‑point plan has resonance here, but the key is local adaptation, integration, clear roles, and uncompromising implementation discipline. Of paramount importance we must ensure that here, in Thabo Mofutsanyana, the impact is felt. Conclusion: A Shared Commitment to Renewed Hope Honourable Mayors and councillors , ladies and gentlemen, the path ahead is demanding. But the promise is profound. Thabo Mofutsanyana has the land, the people, the culture, the location and now, with a sharpened One Plan and the full weight of the DDM behind us, we can unlock a future of dignity, work, opportunity and inclusion. Let us commit ourselves—national, provincial, municipal, civil society, business, communities—to this renewed journey of implementation. Instead of yet another plan gathering dust, let this One Plan become the engine of transformation for this district. Let citizens see new roads, new schools, new clinics, new enterprises, new livelihoods. We stand before you not only to affirm the vision and strategy, but to urge that the real work now begins. Let us measure ourselves not by the eloquence of speeches but by the glow of uplifts in household incomes, in jobs created, in lives changed, in dignity restored. Let us make Thabo Mofutsanyana a beacon of hope for rural districts across the Free State and South Africa. I thank you all.
|
