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President Thabo Mbeki to attend the first Presidential Imbizo following Local Government Elections in the Free State, Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality
3 May 2006
President Thabo Mbeki, accompanied by Cabinet Ministers and the Premier of the Free State Province Beatrice Marshoff, will from Friday to Saturday, 5 to 6 May 2006, attend a Presidential Imbizo aimed at strengthening the capacity of municipalities to deliver services at the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality, Free State. This is the first Presidential Imbizo to be held following the successful Local Government Elections.
This year's Imbizo programme will take a different shape from the 2005 Izimbizo and will target a wider audience of communities and broader range of issues. Izimbizo 2006 builds on sterling progress made by government to transform the people's quality of life through the 2005 intensive programme of Municipal Imbizo, which was aligned to Project Consolidate – a hands-on local government support and engagement programme. This year, specific focus will be given to supporting municipalities to produce and implement credible Integrated Development Plans (IDPs).
The President and his delegation will spend two days at Thabo Mofutsanyana meeting municipal leadership, stakeholders and communities. During this time he will also visit projects that are related to job creation. The President will also engage on door-to-door visits in various communities in the District. Izimbizo will also highlight and profile government’s Programme of Action, Project Consolidate and the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA).
The Presidential Imbizo programme will this year focus on municipalities under Project Consolidate, low capacity and former cross-boundary municipalities, as well as some of the municipalities that were visited in 2005 as a way of monitoring progress.
As the two-day Imbizo will take place in different places around the district municipality.
Media is requested to confirm by 4 May 2006 at 12h00 to:
Enquiries:
Luzuko Koti
Cell: 083 391 0073
David Hlabane
Cell: 082 561 9428
Lindo Nkomonde
Cell: 082 875 9631
Issued by: The Presidency, Government Communications (GCIS) and Department of Provincial and Local Government (dplg)
3 May 2006