Lekwa Local Municipality 2013/14 - Co-operative Governance and ...

“To be the leading, people centered municipality excelling in economic growth, development and governance”development priorities and enabling intergovernmental alignment.” In essence then, the Provincial Growthand Development Strategies are aimed at providing strategic directives to District and Local Municipalities informulating their more detailed Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), and Spatial Development Frameworks(SDF). It is thus essential that the issues and directives emanating from PGDSs’ be compatible with the vision,priority areas, and guidelines of SDFs of local and District municipalities.Flowing out of a thorough SWOT analysis and identified trends, the Province has identified six priority areas ofintervention as part of the PGDS, namely:Economic Development (i.e. investment, job creation, business and tourism development and SMMEdevelopment);Infrastructure Development (i.e. urban/rural infrastructure, housing and land reform);Human Resource Development (i.e. adequate education opportunities for all);Social Infrastructure (i.e. access to full social infrastructure);Environmental Development (i.e. protection of the environment and sustainable development); andGood Governance (i.e. effective and efficient public sector management and service delivery).In line with strengthening the intergovernmental planning system and to ensure that there is sustainablegrowth and development in the province, the PGDS has adopted the following as guiding posts:Internationally, the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); andNationally, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA) and the National SpatialDevelopment Perspective (NSDP) of South AfricaKey Implications for Lekwa Local MunicipalityThe Mpumalanga Provincial Growth and Development Strategy aims to address the key developmental andeconomic challenges in the province.Municipal’s Intervention: In order to align the IDP to the PGDS, the Municipality has identified a number ofinterventions to support the implementation of the PGDS, evident in the Municipal’s Local EconomicDevelopment and Spatial Development Framework sector plans.2.7 Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA)The mandate by the South African government in 2004 to half poverty and unemployment by 2014resurrected commitment in the public sector delivery trajectory.Dismal malfunction of the previous highly contentious GEAR to address economicBacklogs resulted in the formation of a new economic strategy today known as AsgiSA.The South African government's AsgiSA aims to guide and improve on the country's remarkable economicrecovery, raising economic growth to 6% and halving poverty and unemployment by 2014. AsgiSA is a microeconomicstrategy that strives to accelerate growth. It is a national shared growth initiative that was informedby extensive consultation from all sectors. The two main objectives of AsgiSA include:To align its efforts by halving poverty by 50% in 2014; andTo realize annual growth rates that averages 4.5% or higher between 2005 and 2009 and averagegrowth rate of at least 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) between 2010 and 2014.AsgiSA is also informed by the following binding constraints that have been identified as majorstumbling blocks to growth and require commitments based on uprooting them:Continuous instability and level of currency;The cost, efficiency and capacity of the national logistics system;Lack of suitably skilled labor amplified by the impact of apartheid spatial patterns on the cost oflabor;Obstacles to entry, limits to competition and limited new investment opportunities;Regulatory environment and the burden on small and medium businesses; and29 | P a g e - D r a f t i n t e g r a t e d D e v e l o p m e n t P l a n 2 0 1 3 / 2 0 1 4