EAST LONDON- The Eastern Cape Development Corporation(ECDC) and the Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council(ECSECC) hosted multi-stakeholder roundtable dialogue on the 3rd of December 2024 at Osner hotel in East London to strengthen a collaboration among stakeholders. They joined forces to ignite a wave of progress in local economic development.
Their mission was to provide invaluable planning support in economic development, trade and investment promotion to the vibrant municipalities of Enoch Mgijima, Matatiele and Port St. Johns.
Eastern Cape Department of Finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko said, “The operationalisation of some of the investments I am alluding to are beginning to contribute to jobs creation, we believe that 83 000 jobs that were created in the labour market for third quarter of this year, as reported by Stats SA, are as a result of the investment efforts we are putting.”
This dynamic event did not only identify strategies to enhance the investment climate in local municipalities but also pave the way for the future of Municipal Trade and Investment Promotion.“We want to see a drastic change in the economic outlook of rural districts such as OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo, Joe Gqabi, Chris Hani and Amathole. That is where the vast majority of our people reside and that is where there is untapped economic potential,” added Mvoko.
ECSECC Chief Executive officer Luvuyo Mosana said, “The last quarter report is showing a good responsive on the economic sectors of the province and we are going to appreciate that.”
In addition Premier of the Eastern Cape Oscar Mabuyane said, “Ours is to be preoccupied with micro economics and our municipalities must begin to think hard on this.”
Furthermore, Port St Johns local municipality mayor Cllr. Cebisa Mazuza said, “In Port St Johns as I said we have natural resources, we have projects and programmes that the environmental affair is assisting us, one of the issues we currently have is the issue of land invasion.”
This was a gathering of brilliant minds from government, private sector, academia and civil society coming together to brainstorm, innovate and spark change. This was the ultimate opportunity to share insights, propose solutions and shape the future of trade and investment in our communities.
photograph: supplied
