Nyandeni Local Municipality mayor, Viwe Ndamase, has described the investment summit hosted by the municipality last week as historic, adding that ordinary citizens will reap the benefits through job creation from local and international investments that will start flowing to the municipality.
The Nyandeni Investor Summit was held at Dan’s Country Lodge outside Mthatha on September 7 and 8.
The theme of the two-day summit was “Exploring investment opportunities at Nyandeni Municipality”.
“Once we get investors coming to our space there will be employment opportunities for our people. If you look at the cannabis industry alone, it has the potential to create several job opportunities if it can be formalised,” said Ndamase.
The municipality sold itself as a stable municipality at both political and administrative levels during the summit, with Ndamase saying this was demonstrated by the unqualified audit outcomes the municipality achieved for six consecutive years.
It further pitched itself as an investment destination of choice with investment opportunities in property development, tourism, small-scale manufacturing, oceans economy and agriculture, agro-processing, and forestry.
Eastern Cape Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism MEC, Mlungisi Mvoko, who delivered a keynote speech at the summit, said he expected the investment summit’s outcomes to benefit the people of Nyandeni and the OR Tambo District Municipality.
He further cautioned municipalities to improve on their turnaround time and approvals when investors come wanting to invest.
“Policy uncertainty and turnaround time are the biggest stumbling blocks that stifle investment at municipal level, and municipalities need to address that as a matter of urgency,” Mvoko cautioned.
The Nyandeni Local Municipality hosted the investor summit in partnership with the Eastern Cape Socio Economic Consultative Council.
