This programme aims to enable rural communities to take control of their own destiny with the support of government, thereby dealing effectively with rural poverty through the use and management of natural resources. This will be achieved through a co-ordinated, integrated broad based agrarian transformation and the strategic investment in economic and social infrastructure that will benefit the rural communities.
The Mossel Bay Municipality is part of this Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP), which are enrolled and facilitated by the Department of Agriculture on behalf Provincial Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.
At the helm of the programme is the Chief Director; Rural Development, Stefan Conradie, who visited Mossel Bay with his team on Tuesday, 3 July, to meet with representatives of the rural communities, to provide feedback and facilitate development initiatives.
The Southern Cape and especially the rural communities in the Mossel Bay municipal area is the only area where all nine the rural communities are represented in the pilot project. The department has identified this as a pilot project, as the nine communities are collectively covered instead of wards, according to the norm of the CRDP model. In the Kannaland District Council, Dysselsdorp has been identified as the pilot project and boast several successes.
Ms Gail Jacobs, the Deputy Director: Rural Development Coordination for the Department of Agriculture, recently specially relocated to Oudtshoorn to facilitate the programme locally, while Conradie's office will act as the co-ordinator and secretariat for the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP).
Miss Haudia Ohlson (Rural development officer/co-ordinator) of the Mossel Bay Municipality is assisting the department.
Rural development in the Southern Cape follows a 36-month implementation cycle.
At the Intergovernmental Steering Committee meeting in Mossel Bay, Mr Conradie said, "Economic development has to be driven by the private sector in an environment conducive to development. It is the state's responsibility to assist communities to prepare their environment to make economic development attractive and viable in their areas."
For communities to succeed at this goal, individuals have to be organised into structures that will be able to network and link with others and to form a business system. By forming the necessary structures, they will ultimately form part of a network of empowered communities in the Western Cape, capable of accessing opportunities for economic upliftment.
Government, both national and regional, is creating opportunities and communities have to be sufficiently organised to be able to identify, access and prosper from these opportunities. Government will therefore provide the training and assist with certain infrastructure requirements, but ultimately, the development lies in the hands of those entrusted by their communities.
For this reason, nine NGO's have recently been registered, namely:
* Brandwacht Gemeenskapsontwikkelings Vereniging;
* Ruiterbos Gemeenskaps Forum;
* Buisplaas Bewoners Vereniging;
* Toekoms Gemeenskaps Forum;
* Voëlvlei Werkers Vereniging;
* Sonskyn Vallei Community Forum;
* Groot-Brakrivier Ontwikkelings Forum;
* Benton Hill Landelike Ontwikkelings Organisasie;
* Friemersheim Ontwikkelings Forum.
The steering committee meets every second month to discuss progress in their programme and projects.
For any further enquiries with regards to the Mossel Bay Municipality Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, contact Haudia Ohlson at the Mossel Bay Municipality on 044 606 5000 ext 6503 or e-mail: hohlson@mosselbay.gov.za
Representatives of Buisplaas and Ruiterwacht attended the Department of Agriculture’s comprehensive Rural Development Programme meeting, held in Mossel Bay on Tuesday, 3 July.
