President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Friday lead a District Development Model (DDM) visit to the Ugu District, in KwaZulu-Natal.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Presidency said the visit would focus on the development of the Eastern Seaboard traversing the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces along a 600km stretch between the eThekwini and Buffalo City Metros.

The Eastern Seaboard Development spans two provinces, four districts and 17 municipalities situated along the 600km coastline.

The Presidency said the development constitutes one of the DDM flagship projects that are aimed at building inclusive local economies through leveraging district endowments, comparative advantages and optimising industrial structures.

The President will be accompanied by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma; the Premiers of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape; the Executive Mayors of Ugu, Harry Gwala, O.R. Tambo and Alfred Nzo Districts as well as Mayors of local municipalities.

“During this visit the President will engage with traditional leadership and business and government representatives in joint plenary discussions. The visit is part of a phased systematic process of institutionalising the DDM in practice,” it said.

The DDM methodology seeks to address better planning and integration within government and between government and social partners, with a view to enabling inclusive growth and development.

The President launched the DDM approach in 2019 to facilitate cooperative governance through sound inter-govermental planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring.

The Eastern Seaboard Development will be pursued under the theme #BuildingTogether in keeping with the principles of the DDM approach.

Source: South African Government News Agency