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The Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ms Nomalungelo Gina will visit the Namakwa District Municipality from 16-17 November 2020, in her capacity as the District Champion of Namakwa. Deputy Minister Gina was deployed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to champion and coordinate the implementation of the District Development Model (DDM) in Namakwa.

Gina is expected to be accompanied by the Northern Cape MEC for Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs Mr Bentley Vass and MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Mr Abraham Vosloo.

The purpose of the visit is to meet with the leadership of the district and local municipalities, and other stakeholders, as well as to visit the site of the proposed Namakwa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which the department will be establishing in Khai Ma Local Municipality town of Aggeneys.

“There has been quite a lot of work going on even during the country’s lockdown necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, to develop the Namakwa District Development Programme. The working meeting with the district leadership and its stakeholders is part of the process aimed at finalising the programme. The aim is to ensure that there is fast-tracked and measurable implementation which will impact positively on the lives of the people of the district in line with the objectives of the District Development Model. Namakwa is one of the 44 districts around the country where the DDM will be rolled out to speed up service delivery and economic development, including job creation,” says Gina.

She adds that the DDM was designed to change government planning drastically in order address the systemic fragmented service delivery from three tiers of government. The aim is implement a new way of intergovernmental planning, as well as fast-tracking of infrastructure development and related big projects using the existing capacities at district municipality level, provincial and national government, in a coordinated way.

“The DDM propagates less boardroom meetings and more implementation of practical solutions to the socio-economic challenges that our people experience in various areas. We are expecting that the meeting will result in a clear programme of action that will address challenges raised by the municipality in our first meeting that took place virtually in July. These include lack of safe and reliable water, cost of electricity, cost of water, inadequate roads, and lack of employment opportunities. We will also be looking at ways to explore opportunities that the municipality has identified in mineral beneficiation, agro-processing, infrastructure, renewable energy development; and oil and gas,” says Gina.

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), is in the process of establishing the Namakwa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which has already attracted commitments worth R26 billion from interested investors even though it has not yet been designated. The proposed Namakwa SEZ will focus on mineral processing, with added attention to zinc beneficiation, agro processing, logistics and renewable energy production and engineering inputs services. the dtic is working in partnership with the province to finalise feasibility studies and a business plan on the establishment of the SEZ. The second day of Gina’s will be spent visiting the site of the SEZ and interacting with stakeholders.

Issued by Government Communications (GCIS) on behalf of The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic)