Spotlight on small towns
THE SECOND Karoo Small Town Regeneration and Regional Economic Development Conference will be held in De Aar on Monday and Tuesday next week.
The Small Town Regeneration (STR) and Regional Economic Development (RED) initiative has been one of the flagship initiatives of the South African Local Government Association (Salga) since 2014/15.
Salga spokesperson, Modibedi Mongwe, explained that the programmes were aimed at influencing municipalities to target small towns as entry points to effective spatial transformation, stimulate economic growth, create employment and make optimum use of available services and resources.
“Small towns play an important role in the space economy of South Africa as socio-economic service points, employment hubs and areas for housing provision. They effectively link the rural and urban economies which provide opportunity for growth and development for urban and rural populations.”
The inaugural STR conference was held In October 2015, to provide a platform for stakeholders to discuss the challenges and approaches towards realising the economic potential for small towns.
“One of the resolutions emanating from the conference was the need for localities and regions to organise development stakeholders to support efforts of municipalities to facilitate town regeneration and expedite economic development processes,” Mongwe stated.
In April last year, an inter-provincial conference involving four provinces (Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and the Free State) was held for the Karoo Region in Beaufort West.
Resolutions
“One of the resolutions of this conference was that Karoo Small Town Regeneration and Regional Economic Development Conference be held on a regular basis and to consult with stakeholders and report on progress,” Mongwe said.
“To implement the other resolutions of the conference, a national task team consisting of Salga and stakeholders from the public and private sector was established to, amongst other things, develop a strategic action plan and establish a vehicle to implement the outcomes of the conference.
“Amongst others, the Strategic Action Plan has been finalised that identifies decisions and actions required for the short, medium and long term.”
The second Karoo STR and RED Conference will be held in De Aar next week.
According to Mongwe, this will be a report back conference, aimed mainly at providing feedback to stakeholders on all the work done since 2016.
The key areas on which reporting will be done include socio and economic profiles and trends of small towns, redefinition of the Karoo region, potential funding and technical partners for STR, current and planned catalytic projects to support small towns in the Karoo and, intergovernmental institutional arrangements for the region.
“According to the recent study of the Karoo region conducted by the Municipal Demarcation Board, there is a total of 36 municipalities across four provinces forming the Karoo region which will all participate in the upcoming conference.”
In the Northern Cape these include:
In the Pixley Ka Seme District Municipality: Ubuntu, Emthanjeni, Renosterberg, Thembelihle, Umsobomvu, Siyancuma, Siyathemba and Kareeberg local municipalities.
In the ZF Mgcawu and Namaqua district municipalities: Kai Garib, Kheis, Karoo Hoogland, Khai-Ma and Nama Khoi local municipalities.
It also includes municipalities in the Western Cape, Free State and Eastern Cape.