Minister promises acceleration of services

STEELPOORT – Deputy minister in the Presidency, Thembi Siweya, led the inauguration of the District Development
Model (DDM) in the Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM) on Friday.

It was held at Tubatse Chrome Club. Siweya, in her capacity as the DDM political champion for the district
municipality, engaged and interacted with stakeholders on the roll-out of the model.

She told the attendees that the implementation of the model strengthens intergovernmental coordination in the
planning, budgeting and implementation of government programmes.

“The DDM has been adopted as a logical intergovernmental vehicle for integrating and coordinating the implementation of all of government’s Covid-19 and gender-based violence and femicide responses, as well as
the economic recovery and reconstruction plan,” Siweya said during the launch.

“The DDM is a new integrated planning model for the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs that seeks to be a new integrated, district-based, service delivery approach aimed at fasttracking service delivery and ensuring that municipalities are adequately supported and resourced to carry out their mandate.”

Siweya highlighted that the DDM has been approved by government structures, including cabinet, to integrate service delivery that will be more practical, achievable, implementable, measurable and clearly aligned to the key priorities of the government.

“The model seeks to change the face of rural and urban landscapes by ensuring complementarity between urban and rural development, with a deliberate emphasis on local economic development.”

As part of the inaugural launch, Siweya also led oversight inspections at infrastructure sites to engage targeted
stakeholders in the SDM.

Among places she visited was the steel bridge at the intersection of the D2219 and R555. She said that the government is planning to replace the single-lane bridge with a brand-new one.