Ministers host imbizo on Eastern Seaboard Development

The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) – together with the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) – will today host the first leg of their Eastern Seaboard Development Imbizo in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Eastern Seaboard Development is a broad and multifaceted vision to develop a new smart city and to bring in new developments across KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

Launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 12 November 2021, the Eastern Seaboard Development is a District Development Model flagship project, which aims to connect developmental opportunities across the four district municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces.

This means effectively transcending multiple district spaces in favour of multiple polycentric nodes of development.

The first leg of the Imbizo – to be held at Great Kokstad Youth Centre in Harry Gwala District on 29 March 2022 – will be led by Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and COGTA Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

The Ministers will be joined by KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Sihle Zikalala, MECs, Mayors, and councillors.

In a statement, the DWYPD said the key objective of Imbizo is to explore the inclusion of women, youth and persons with disabilities in the development of the Eastern Seaboard, which straddles the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

“The envisaged involvement and participation will be in various sectors, including oceans economy, agriculture, infrastructure, Information Technology (IT) and tourism. The Imbizo will also facilitate access to information which will enable all targeted beneficiaries to take advantage of opportunities availed by these major developments,” the department said.

All women, youth or persons with disabilities owned businesses operating in various sectors who wish to participate in the Imbizo, are urged to make contact with the department by emailing Charity.Muravha@women.gov.za and/or Nhlanhla.Manzini@women.gov.za.

The sectors include:

Tourism, with an emphasis on oceans, adventure, nature and cultural tourism.
The oceans and marine economy, maritime (with a craft harbour), aquaculture as well as energy and resources.
Agriculture, with a strong leaning towards indigenous knowledge and the hemp heritage as well as the full value of agriculture.
Infrastructure which is inclusive of basic and human settlement related as well as integrated transport infrastructure and ICT.
The second leg of the Eastern Seaboard Development Imbizo scheduled for the Eastern Cape has been postponed to a later date due to unforeseen circumstances.