AFRICAN National Congress stalwart and former health and public enterprises minister Barbara Hogan has been appointed to head the board of the Western Cape’s new Economic Development Partnership.
Ms Hogan is part of a diverse political line-up of individuals who have been recruited to the board of the partnership, which aims to provide an innovative way of uniting economic actors around a growth plan for the Democratic Alliance-led province.
While economic development agencies are either typically government-driven and controlled — such as the Gauteng Economic Development Agency — or are transactional bodies where negotiations take place — such as the National Economic and Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) — the Western Cape model is independent and aims at a broad membership.
Ms Hogan will lead the board, which includes community activists, business leaders and academics. There is a notable absence of individuals associated with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which opted not to participate in the initiative.
Brian Figaji, who headed the board selection panel, said the board was composed "not of representative organisations but of independent people, each appointed in their own right, because of their skills".
"It was hard to get organisations to understand that at first as they ask ‘Who is my representative?’ Well, your representative is not here," Prof Figaji said.
This is Cosatu’s main grievance. It is unhappy that the new model effectively replaces a provincial version of a Nedlac-type of negotiating forum.
Ms Hogan said that "while we are prepared to make every effort to get everyone involved, this is a voluntary association and if people first want to stand aside and see, that’s fine".
"We are here to create a different kind of institution where people have a real passion to make things happen on the ground."
She praised the Western Cape provincial government for being "extremely far-sighted" in backing the partnership concept.
"Most governments want to control processes.
"We are now being given the creative task of growing this economy. It is an exciting project, to be working creatively with people with such enormous experience," Ms Hogan said.
Andrew Boraine, a former Cape Town city manager and the CE of the Cape Town Partnership that has achieved success with the partnership model at city level, has been the driving force behind the formation of the provincial partnership.
Others board members include: Metropolitan Health CEO Blum Kahn; investment expert Jenny Cargill; Julian May, an authority on poverty at the University of the Western Cape; Xoliswa Daku, CEO of property investment company DCI Holdings; and general secretary of the Treatment Action Campaign, Vuyiseka Dubula.
Board members will serve voluntarily and receive a small stipend to cover expenses but will not receive the board fees that have become common in most public sector organisations.
Mr Boraine said the partnership’s first projects would involve the development of an economic vision and strategy; a big school-to-work employment programme in the public sector; a project to collect accurate economic data and reconcile contradictions and debates over basic statistics; and the development of a productivity index to benchmark success.
patonc@bdfm.co.za
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