‘City councils hold key to growth, jobs’

‘Local strategies are sensitive to local realities, tend to be less bureaucratic’

SOUTH Africa will not succeed in boosting economic growth and job creation if it does not give local governments more powers to formulate their economic policies.

This is according to the DA’s head of policy, Gwen Ngwenya, who said the party would be pushing for city-led economic growth.

Nwenya and DA leader Mmusi Maimane were presenting the party’s policy proposals ahead of its federal congress, starting tomorrow.

“Our approach is to place locally led growth at the heart of the economic agenda.

“Globally, cities are increasingly setting the pace for growth and this approach is intuitive as local growth strategies are sensitive to local realities.

“They tend to be less bureaucratic, which allows them to be both agile and responsive to the communities they serve,” Ngwenya said.

“In South Africa, the DA governs the triple engines of the economy, which is the City of Cape Town, the City of Johannesburg and the City of Tshwane.

“Together with Nelson Mandela Bay, these metropolitan regions are responsible for over 50% of SA’s GDP. The bottom line is that the DA governs the economy,” Ngwenya said.

She said through the party’s experiences at local level, the congress would look at how primary cities could be assisted to drive growth while allowing less-resourced cities to be developed.

On the land debate, Maimane said: “The DA’s discussion on land reform at this congress will commit the party to the development and implementation of land reform policies that extend property ownership, attract investment, create jobs.”