KSD Municipality held a two-day KSD Cooperative Summit. One of the goals of the summit was to better sychronise government spheres and other support institutions that are dealing with cooperative development initiatives.
Additionally, it is to discuss and identify key catalytic initiatives and how cooperatives can meaningfully participate in the economy.
In his welcoming remarks, Executive Mayor, Cllr. Nyaniso Nelani encouraged cooperatives to take advantage of underutilised resources such as Kei Fresh Produce Market, the Abattoir, and the Mqanduli Milling Plant. These assets were designed to ignite the local economy. He also mentioned KSD’s intentions to develop into a metropolitan municipality in order to generate employment and economic prospects.
“We are launching and extending our economy to become a bigger city (metro); we have identified nodes to develop. Our aim is to create jobs and give businesses a space to grow and make money. Our aim is also to reduce poverty.” He said.
The mayor further said that the summit must engage on what do KSD need to do in order utilise cooperative movement to drive the KSD economy into better heights. He further highlighted the seven guiding principles that cooperatives must follow to have a successful cooperative.
Presenting the municipal overview, KSD Acting Municipal Manager, Mr. Mbuyiseli Mandla, highlighted various key catalytic projects, including:
- Wild Coast Industrial Park (SEZ)
- Vulindlela Industrial Park
- Agri-Park and Rural Economic Hub
- Small Industrial hubs e.g. Transido, Broadband connectivity and small radiation system.
He further cited development precincts and nodes that KSD has earmarked and that are in various stages of execution. He continued highlighting the Supply Chain Management (SCM) red tapes on Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and underlined the negligence in completing bidding forms such as MBD3.1 & MBD6.2.
Furthermore, he stated strategic partnerships the municipality has with DICLA Projects, Walter Sisulu University (WSU), Durban University of Technology (DUT), KSD TVET College on top of sister Departments.
The municipality also enjoys relations with business structures such as NAFCOC and KSD Chamber of Business which they gave a word of support praising the Municipality for hosting Cooperative Summit.
Various stakeholders formed part of the summit including the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development; Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC), Tsolo Agriculture and Rural Development Institute; Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), SEFA; Wild Coast Food; Africa Seeds Group; Ntinga Development Agency; EC Rural Development Agency; WSU; OR Tambo Cooperative Development Centre; Department of Forestry and Fisheries.
Cooperatives were equipped on programmes and financial sources set to support their initiatives and how to access those opportunities.
The Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Rural Development, and Land Reform, Ms. Nokuzola Capa, graced the summit. In her speech she supported the vision of KSD Municipality to be a metropolitan municipality due to the fact that OR tambo District Municipality and airport being located at KSD Municipality.
She continued saying that land reform with special focus on local forestry and ownership should be a big part in strengthening local economy and that the land rights of the people should be addressed and protected.
“District and Local Municipalities have all the rights to protect the land rights of their citizens. The Municipality should amend its IDP to address the usage and role played by forests in the local economy.” She said.
She further highlighted the value of rural land for the development of local economies in conjunction with traditional leaders and communities.
The deputy minister also said that government should support people of Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall to drive community-based tourism.
In wrapping up the summit the resolutions were taken as a way forward towards strengthening cooperatives development and economic recovery.
These include the development of a programme of action for implementation of the resolutions and have a strategy to monitor and evaluate the cooperative.
Another resolution is the support of SEZ Development agro-processing opportunities so that the value chain that will benefit KSD Cooperatives and SMMEs can be created.
Furthermore, to create a conducive environment for investment attraction for the benefit of our SMMEs and Cooperatives.
Mqanduli Red Hub and Kei Fresh Produce will be resuscitated and ensure that it is vibrant and active in order to serve the people of KSD.
KSD Municipality working the relevant stakeholders will provide the capacity building for the cooperatives in order to improve governance, financial management, marketing and communication of the business.
Entrepreneur incubation will be also explored for information sharing and that stakeholders will be consolidated to improve communication and mobilisation.
Furthermore, the cooperative to be supported to achieve competitive advantage in our market and be able to achieve the sustainable asset-based wealth accumulation.
Lastly, KSD to organise an Agricultural Summit as KSD is third economic centre in the province.
Closing the summit, the Single Whip of Council, Cllr Bongani Mlanjeni thanked the attendees for their wonderful turn out. He encouraged people to follow the Council meetings as decision taken are in their interest, citing the SEZ development which will be tabled in the next council meeting.
He continued addressing the challenge of the unemployment saying that the business sector plays a critical role in job creation as public sector cannot absorb everyone. He encouraged businesspeople to focus on the primary production and manufacturing since there is a shortage in that level.
