MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Mossel Bay Municipality held its first session with stakeholders this week to ask probing questions on how to fast track growth of the town's economy.

The session was hosted by Carel Venter, director of planning and integrated services.

Venter explained that the tried and trusted Participatory Assessment of Competitive Advantage (PACA) Process was being used to turn around the municipality's Local Economic Development (LED) Strategy.

The session on Monday, 31 January, initiated the fieldwork part of the process, which entails interviews with selected groups within the community.

"PACA is best described as an active planning tool, used over a very short period of time, targeting specific groups," Venter explained. He said it is suggested as a more effective way to harvest information, than hosting laborious, lengthy community meetings which ultimately slow down the process of bringing about change.

"The process offers task-specific outcomes, targeting specific groups who become involved in highly active sessions. What we take from these sessions is then used to strategise."

Some of the questions posed to the participants to develop strategic themes were: the role of the municipality in LED; how to grow and diversify Mossel Bay's largely seasonal economy; a SWOT analysis; and how the fourth industrial revolution can be used to Mossel Bay's advantage in terms of economic growth.

Gwynne Harding and her LED team facilitated the session.

The feedback on these questions was compiled on site and voted on by the participants to ascertain the most pressing issues.

Alderman Dirk Kotzé, executive mayor of Mossel Bay, reminded the participants of his administration's growth strategy mentioned prior to the local government elections in November 2021.

"We do want to better people's lives. This can be done if we ultimately succeed as an organisation, no – a corporation – to effectively market Mossel Bay."

Kotzé stressed that the municipality's role is to govern through service delivery, but to also create safety, which is not a funded mandate. Within a safe environment comes economic growth, securing investors.

"Growing the economy secures jobs and if people earn more than R3 500, they are not on the indigent register and moreover, they can live a dignified life."

Also high on the agenda is social regeneration, which Kotzé pointed out is an unfunded mandate, however plans are being developed to actively pursue this despite budget constraints. A focus on the environment, not only in terms of safety, but preserving natural beauty, is also a priority.

"Ways of achieving our goals, are to have a plan, to implement it and by doing so accelerate planning. We want to create a Mossel Bay where it is easy to do business."

Participants keenly gave their input during the SWOT analysis.

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