As part of accelerating Government’s implementation of the National Development Plan (Vision 2030) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, will on Tuesday, 11 February 2020, participate in a high-level round table panel discussion under the theme “The Role that the Private Sector can play in reimagining Social Development”. 

Organised in partnership with GovChat, a citizen-government technology platform, the round table discussion will bring together business leaders from retail and financial sectors to discuss the contribution of the private sector to the realisation of the social development agenda in South Africa. The roundtable discussion is premised on the understanding that the attainment of the goals of the NDP rely on all actors of the society.

The private sector increasingly plays an important role as a key partner in tackling the developmental challenges facing South Africa. The roundtable therefore creates an opportunity for leaders of the private sector to engage Minister Zulu and to identify potential areas of collaborations and partnerships with the Department.

In response to the rapidly changing technological environment and the need to digitise public services, Minister Zulu will also use the roundtable to officially launch the department on the Govchat platform which will enable citizens across the country to interact and to report on service delivery related matters at any one of 30,000 government facilities country-wide. Data collated will provide a real-time, centralized complaints management reporting system (CMS), as well as an early-warning system (EWS).

Members of the media are invited to the event, which will take place as follows:

DATE:            TUESDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 2019

VENUE:         GOVCHAT HQ, 37 PARLIAMENT STREET, CAPE TOWN

TIME:             17:00-19H00

The media can RSVP by contacting Ms Sharlene Naiker on 082 673 5849/e-mail:SharleneN@dsd.gov.za or Ms Nomfundo Xulu-Lentsoane on 066 480 6845/e-mail: NomfundoLe@dsd.gov.za 

Media enquiries:  Abram Phahlamohlaka on 082 928 6590/e-mail: abramp@dsd.gov.za