Government is bringing services even closer to the people of Mpumalanga, with departments and entities offering services on the sidelines of the District Development Model (DDM) Presidential Imbizo held at Emalahleni on Thursday.

Today’s imbizo allows President Cyril Ramaphosa and other leaders in government to assess progress made and to be briefed on challenges associated with the improvement of service delivery since the President’s previous imbizo held in Carolina in May 2022.

Now, residents in Emalahleni are encouraged to visit the government exhibition show at Sy Mthimunye Stadium where the imbizo is being held.

Exhibitors include the Department of Home Affairs, where residents can apply for and collect ID cards; the Post Office; the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), where residents can make enquiries on grants; the National Youth Development Agency, and the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), where enquiries can be made.

At the exhibition site, NYDA official Tebogo Matsoge s
aid: ‘Customer services that we have here today [are for] people who have issues with their logins on our online platforms. Anyone who wants to know about business starting or grant funding, we are here. We are more than willing to assist anyone who’s in need because this is our main priority, to boost South Africans who want to start businesses and to kick-start the economy.’

SASSA official Khensani Nxumalo said: ‘We are here at the imbizo and we are going to be doing Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) R350 grant enquiries. We are doing enquiries on grant payments for those who didn’t receive their payments and we are screening for those who want to do applications.’

The Presidential izimbizo are directed at enabling the successful implementation of the ‘One District, One Plan’ District Development Model in which residents, traditional leaders, business formations, organised labour and faith- and community-based organisations work with government across all phases of planning, implementation and evaluat
ion.

Source: South African Government News Agency