President Cyril Ramaphosa has today, 10 May 2018, visited the departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) to interact with top management and the staff. This visit was in fulfillment of the President’s commitment in the State of the Nation Address to visit government departments and key state institutions as part of ensuring alignment in the work of government as well as promoting good governance and professionalism in the public sector.

The President was accompanied by the Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and met with the department’s top management led by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Zweli Mkhize, and Deputy Ministers Mr Obed Bapela and Mr Andries Nel.

President Ramaphosa said his visit to COGTA was very significant as the department is the epicentre for the work of government focusing on addressing many service delivery challenges facing communities across the country.

“We were here to listen to the top management on what challenges the department is facing and how we can work together to address those challenges to ensure that government functions efficiently. COGTA is an engine of government as it is the glue between the people and government. This department is involved in the real work of government which is specifically the delivery of basic services to our communities and ensuring a good relationship between government and institutions of traditional leadership,” President Ramaphosa said.

“As we experience protests in some part of the country, which are reportedly caused by lack of service delivery, this department is very key in addressing those issues and ensuring that municipalities deliver adequate and quality services to our people,” President Ramaphosa added.

The President has pledged his support to the department as it undertakes its work to address the challenges faced by local government. This includes the department’s skills development programme, which develops professional capacity in the form of town planners, civil engineers, architects and others to capacitate local government.

The President urged COGTA to lead the charge around integrated urban development to decisively dismantle the legacy of apartheid spatial planning. The President has further welcomed COGTA’s commitment to mobilise all stakeholders including traditional leaders, other government departments and civil society around initiatives for an agrarian revolution - a critical imperative to reduce urban migration and accelerate rural development.