The Long Road to OR Tambo District

On a chilly early Tuesday morning with a light drizzle engulfing the small town of Mthatha in Eastern Cape Province, small bands of people started to trickle in at the sprawling country lodge for what many agreed was a ground-breaking signing ceremony for a partnership agreement between the Government and the United Nations in South Africa. As the hours ticked by towards the kick-off time for the event, organizers became increasingly anxious that the unforgiving weather would discourage many people from attending.

As it turned out, signs of a potential poor turnout quickly evaporated – as did the menacing clouds, giving way to a stream of more arrivals and reassuring organizers of a potentially well-attended event.

Staff began putting up branding material in and around the huge white marquee that would host the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding between the partners UN and the Government on implementing various community projects under what is termed the district development model (DDM).

The model was formulated following studies that pointed to bottlenecks to development which are impeding the efficient delivery of services to local communities in the three districts of OR Tambo (Eastern Cape Province), Waterberg (Limpopo) and eThekwini (KwaZulu-Natal). In response to these bottlenecks, the UN and its Government partners developed the DDM to address the challenges to service delivery caused by government sectors operating in silos, which has had negative impact in project planning and implementation. The silo approach to government delivery has also made it difficult to monitor projects and provide oversight.

As required by Covid-19 protocols, invited guests were limited to half the capacity of the venue. Dignitaries at the event included the head of the United Nations and Resident Coordinator in the country, Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas; the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Ms. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma; the Mayor of Mthatha, Goodman Nyaniso Nelani; the Mayor of OR Tambo District Municipality, Thokozile Sokhanyile and several heads of UN agencies based in South Africa as well as other senior Government officials.

In her address, Ms. Bekele-Thomas said that the UN South Africa office was very excited to provide support to government as “local government is where citizens and their government interact the most and where most services are delivered. It is also where, for most people, the government’s trust and legitimacy is won or lost”.  

“To function effectively local government needs to be empowered, to be resourced and capacitated to be a driver of local development. Citizens are still having to travel long distances and even sleeping on the streets to access basic services only available in urban centres. We must reenergize our efforts to ensure that services reach all communities and are focused on their needs,” she added.

The UN in South Africa aims to provide government with support by realigning itself to support local government and service delivery and placing its resources and expertise at the disposal of municipalities and their citizens. “I am particularly excited about establishing Songhai centres, which have a proven track record of successfully boosting agriculture, but in a way that is sustainable,” said Ms. Bekele-Thomas.

“They are a driver of employment and growth, while encouraging food security, they are a fitting embodiment of what the Sustainable Development Goals seek to achieve. These signature projects seek to empower citizens through the enhanced provision of services and bringing citizens and local government closer together.”

Minister Dlamini-Zuma told the gathering that the implementation of the partnership projects would help lift millions of people out of poverty and open up space for job creation to stimulate the economy in OR Tambo District. She further emphasized that the district development model approach will assist in building sustainable, resilient communities in South Africa.

The model is made up of district-specific signature projects based on three interrelated pillars. These include the Unlocking Economic Value Chain pillar that deliberately focuses on growing an inclusive and sustainable economy, the Social Transformation pillar that seeks to tackle Gender-Based Violence and Femicide through increased stakeholder partnerships and advocacy, as well as the Service Delivery and Governance Enhancement pillar, which aims to resuscitate and restructure entities such as the Thusong Service Centres, which for decades have been a conduit for citizens to access public services and information.