WATCH | Costly Izimbizo ‘is more than just a feel-good or gig for the President and Cabinet’

Cyril Ramaphosa
Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the Izimbizo gatherings, where public officials, including Cabinet ministers, engage with citizens.
He argued that these events are essential for transparent governance and addressing public concerns, despite their high cost.

“The Izimbizo is more than just a feel-good or gig for the President and the Cabinet. It is about identifying a district in conjunction with the provincial governments. Once a district has been identified, the various spheres of government come together, different workstreams are established to drive the process that is coordinated by the political champion.

“A few days before the actual Imbizo, Ministers and Deputy Ministers are deployed to the district to inspect their respective programmes. New projects are identified. On the day of the Imbizo, the President is accompanied by the Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Premiers, Members of provincial governments, Mayors and Councillors and the community engages them. It does get heated at times and emotional,” Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said.

He was briefing the media at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Wednesday on the President’s engagement diary.

The gatherings, costing R44 million over 18 months, are designed to improve public service delivery and involve various government levels in solving community issues.
He said that public participation has been a cornerstone of South African culture since the onset of democracy 30 years ago.

“Public participation is intrinsically part of the DNA of the democratic South Africa. To be exact, it was initiated by the Constitutional Assembly in 1994 to consult and keep South Africans abreast of the Constitution writing process.

“It is against this background that the President can assert that the Presidential Izimbizo and the public participation programmes are not political gimmicks of the current and previous administrations.

“Neither is it an extravagant exercise and wasteful expenditure of taxpayers’ money. But it is a caring government which is engaging its citizens across the political divide.

“It started in 1994 and it is entrenched in the South African public discourse. It has evolved from former President’s to today’s public participation programme of the Presidential Izimbizo under the banner of the [DDM],” he said.

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Compiled by Betha Madhomu

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