Pretoria, 4 December 2008– Following soon after a stakeholder engagement blitz in the Eastern Cape which saw a high-powered team of senior national and provincial government civil servants team being set up to find mechanisms to resolve service-delivery related challenges in the Province, Minister for Provincial and Local Government, Sicelo Shiceka, now moves to the Free State from December 8 to 9, on the second leg of his Intergovernmental and Community Dialogue programme.

With these provincial visits, Minister Shiceka says the intention is to listen so he can understand how various stakeholder groups that fall under his new portfolio at both the provincial and local spheres of government want to be governed, understand their challenges and develop closer working relationships which will assist the department in preparing for the challenges ahead. 

The Free State leg of Minister Shiceka’s two-day dialogue will include meetings with Ward Committees, Ward Councillors, Municipal Councillors, Traditional Leaders, the Provincial Cabinet and Premier Beatrice Marshoff, Mayors and faith-based organizations.

The dialogue provides the Minister with a better and more holistic view of the status of provincial and local governance in the country, development trends in the Provinces, and challenges impacting on service delivery and ultimately establishes a relationship between the Ministry, the Department of Provincial and Local Government and these key stakeholders.

Meetings with Traditional Leadership, a group that has specifically expressed unhappiness about lack of engagement and involvement with the Ministry for Provincial and Local Government in the past, will focus on the challenges and concerns experienced by this sector.

Similarly to the Eastern Cape dialogue, the meetings in the Free State nest week will also be marked by open dialogue and recording of comments and inputs by the stakeholders the Minister will be meeting, for further action by the Department’s officials.

Out of the Eastern Cape dialogue, a team was set up tasked with the responsibility of identifying a range of issues that impede service delivery levels in the province, developing processes to remove them and assisting government at all levels to work in a co-ordinated manner to improve service delivery.

Issued on behalf of the Ministry for Provincial and Local Government.

For more information, queries and requests for interviews, please contact:

Vuyelwa Qinga Vika (Ms)

Media Liaison Officer : Minister for Provincial and Local Government

Cell: 082 877 3898

Phone: 012 334 0995

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