The Northern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA) has hosted a three-day IDP engagement session with all Northern Cape district municipalities.

“An IDP is a comprehensive and inclusive plan that outlines a municipality’s priorities and strategies for economic and social development plans and is a critical component of the Municipal Systems Act, which requires that all municipalities in South Africa develop and regularly review their IDPs.

“The Act also requires that municipalities consult with their communities and other stakeholders in the development of their IDP,” said head of communications Tebogo Monyo.

Engagements were transmitted over various radio stations. Picture supplied

The engagement session is aimed at assessing whether the municipalities during their 2024/25 review process have identified areas that need to be amended for the upcoming 2025/26 period.

“Service delivery projects have been identified as one of the key areas but also to improve on service delivery, municipalities need to look at the water, electricity, sewage, roads and their bulk infrastructure,” said the Provincial Manager for IDP at the department of COGHSTA, Elroy Phete, when asked which areas they have identified through the 3-day engagement session.

COGHSTA intends to support municipalities through the drafting of the IDP. The municipal planning directorate will also make sure that sector departments support municipalities in the implementation of sector priorities, sector plans and projects, and will be supporting them through the implementation of the IDP.

Various municipal representatives at the engagement. Picture: Facebook

A total of 31 municipalities were invited to the engagement sessions but only 25 were present. “We hope that municipalities will grab this opportunity to better their IDP and their service delivery planning,” added Phete.

Plans for the year were unable to be shared because a few municipalities have not yet adopted their final IDP and it will only be adopted by the end of June, and implementation will be done in July and thereafter the department will be able to share municipal plans with the various communities.

The department will be having more of these engagement sessions to assess if municipalities have implemented their IDPs and to ensure that, in the review process, the omitted projects have been included.

OFM News/Casey-Lee Anthony cg