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Speech by MEC at the Eastern Cape Rural Development Summit
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Agriculture & Land Affairs

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 EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

SPEECH BY MEC MAMASE AT

THE EASTERN CAPE RURAL DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT

ON 5-6 OCTOBER  2000



INTEGRATING CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE IN THE INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

1.Introduction

Various attempts at Integrated Rural Development have been made in the past. None of these have succeeded in stemming the tide of rural 
poverty, environmental degradation, lack of social amenities and the provision of adequate infrastructure in rural areas. Sectoral 
approaches have resulted in disjointed provision of services including infrastructure. In order to overcome the deficiencies of the past a 
new approach to integrated rural development is required. It is imperative that co-operative governance be applied to ensure a harmonious 
vibrant and effective implementation of strategies, which will deal with the development of rural communities and their economies .

Failure to effectively apply co-operative governance will render the most elegant integrated rural development strategies ineffective and 
will simply serve to create further frustration within the different spheres of government and particularly the constituencies served by 
our Province.

2. What is Co-operative Governance?

The new South African Constitution, Chapter 3, clearly sets out principles of co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations. The 
system of &#145;co-operative government will pertain to all three spheres of government, which are &#145;distinctive, interdependent and 
interrelated. The evolving intergovernmental system should be understood as a dynamic and interdependent system in which influence and 
power will have to be continually negotiated. Relationships among the spheres of government will be influenced by their resources, goals 
and values.

Based on the principles as laid down by the Constitution, the key guiding principles of co operative governance and inter- governance 
relationships are based on consultation on matters of common interest, with each sphere adhering to agreed procedures and avoiding legal 
procedures against one another.

In other words, the Constitution focuses primarily on reducing conflict between different spheres of government.

However, the critical factor for integrated rural development should be a positive, creative and synergistic cooperation between the 
various spheres of governance for the benefit of economic development with a strong emphasis on the quality of life for rural people. This 
is a positive construct on the protective constitutional clauses.

3. Why do we need an Integrated Rural Development Strategy?

The Eastern Cape Province covers an area of 17 million ha with a population of 6, 3 million. 65% of the population resides in rural areas. 
Of the rural population, the majority live in the former Ciskei and Transkei areas. Women comprise 54% of the Eastern Cape population and 
make up almost 60% of the rural population. Youth comprise up to 60% of the rural population indicating a high youth-dependency ratio. 
Disability levels in rural areas are estimated between 6%-7%. In rural areas in the Province, especially the former Bantustans, disability 
is closely related to poverty, access to services, nutritional deficiency and lack of access to immunization. While being home to just 50% 
of South Africas population, rural areas have poverty share of 72% of the countrys poor. Accordingly, poverty is concentrated in the 
rural provinces of the country especially the Eastern Cape, Northern province and Orange Free State.

It is imperative to reverse the negative legacy of apartheid planning, through the effective coordination of the several arms of government 
in implementing an integrated rural development strategy.

4. What is Integrated Rural Development Strategy?

The framework of the integrated rural development strategy can be derived from Schedule 4 of the Constitution which deals with concurrent 
functions between national and the provincial spheres of government. These concurrent functions are as follows.

* Economic
* Agriculture
* Education
* Health
* Welfare
* Transport
* Public Works
* Sport and Culture
* Environment and Tourism

In order to coordinate these concurrent functions and ensure optimal budget investment, the National Government should develop a Macro 
Rural Development Plan which should serve as a framework for provincial and local government spheres to develop their integrated rural 
development strategies (IRDS).

Provincial Integrated Development Plan should then be developed. It must reverse the apartheid based principles. It must bring about an 
Integrated Economic Development Plan that includes rural development, zoning according to natural resource potential and spatial 
development initiatives.

Land use objectives can be identified and developed. The Development objectives of the spatial plan with zoning and therefore you need a 
spatial development framework which encompasses all these principles. For that you need to have an integrated rural development strategy.

5. How to do it?

Based on the concurrent functions as provided in the Constitution, we need to craft a common integrated rural development strategy. This 
strategy can be derived from or informed by the departmental priorities.

This process must be governed by the provincial integrated rural development policy. Such policy will help to harmonise the focus of 
different departments.

We need a provincial planning act - establishing the priorities of the Province. National funding to the provinces should always be co-
ordinated according to these priorities.

Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Project is a good real life example of seeing institutional synergies at work. (In that programme you 
have housing infrastructure, your planning infrastructure, water planning and reticulation). Departments involved is housing, economic 
affairs - provincial and local government and land affairs.

Cooperative governance must go beyond simple liaison to strong, co-ordinated planning, budgeting, programming and implementation by 
designated departments.

Key issue is that different departments have different mandates. It is therefore necessary to have a common objective. The exercise to 
determine or establish the common objective as departments, can involve a collective or inter-sectoral planning.

6. Implementation of co-operative governance with respect to integrated rural development strategy

Planning (informed by regional development planning which we are calling provincial development plan) process is almost finished by 
Premiers office.

From this provincial development plan, priorities have to be identified for effective integrated rural development strategy.

Those priorities should then inform our budgetary processes. Departmental or sectoral plans should be set up for 10-15 years (medium-term 
planning) within the framework of MTERF.

There also will be a need for an effective institutional arrangement to oversee, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the integrated 
rural development strategy in the province. In other words, there has to be somebody somewhere managing the process and be accountable to 
the provincial government. The entire provincial government will rely on such an institutional arrangement for an effective implementation 
of the strategy.

Again, to avoid unnecessary delays in the implementation of the Integrated Rural Development Strategy, the local government sphere needs to 
be capacitated in the areas of administration, planning and financial control systems.

7. Concluding Remarks

An Integrated approach of this nature is not a far fetched dream. There are real life examples where we can learn some valuable lessons. 
The Consolidated Municipality Integrated Programme and the Integrated Livestock and Crop Development Project are relevant examples that can 
bear testimony to this.

The demographic and socio-economic factors of this province clearly indicate to us that the Integrated Rural Development Strategy in the 
province is an imperative.

This calls for dedicated, motivated and passionate people to drive this process forward for the benefit of the rural people.

The conference delegates therefore, are expected to come up with a proposed programme of action to put in place an effective cooperative 
governance so as to hasten the implementation of the Integrated Rural Development Strategy.

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