By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured residents of Kuruman in Nothern Cape, that government remains committed to delivering services and addressing their challenges.
Ramaphosa was speaking during the District Development Model (DDM) Presidential Imbizo held in Kuruman on Thursday.
The DDM Presidential Imbizo programme presents a platform for communities to lay out the challenges they face to the President, his Cabinet and provincial and local government.
During the imbizo, residents told of challenges, including a lack of access to water, educational and vocational training facilities for youth, housing challenges and crime related issues.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that the challenges the residents face are enormous but vowed that government will address them.
“As an administration, we have sought to fulfil and address those needs and we will continue to do so. They were huge from 1994 and we have done a lot to address many of those needs. The needs of our people will continue but we will continue working very hard to address those needs.
“But what is good is that the people have the freedom and the opportunity to raise their concerns, and as they raise their concerns, we are much more encouraged to address those concerns. It’s important that we should get to hear how our people are living, and what they are experiencing.
“This is a great opportunity for us to do more and to do more together, with our people,” he said.
There have been at least 13 Presidential izimbizo held throughout the term of the sixth administration, touching tens of thousands of people who interacted with all three spheres of government.
The Northern Cape Presidential imbizo is expected to be the last to be held for this term.
“A lot of people were very enthusiastic to raise their views and raise questions. The engagement with the community I always find it very rich, very empowering as well. We have been able to follow up on a number of issues that have been raised at our izimbizo.
“In a way, we saved the best for last. This is the imbizo that really tops everything and closes off the sixth administration, “Ramaphosa said.