By Alicia Mmashakana
The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has called for a detailed municipality-by-municipality report to enable proper analysis and oversight of the District Development Model (DDM).
Committee members raised concerns about the slow progress and lack of clarity in implementing the District Development Model (DDM), six years after its launch by the President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2019.
The department briefed the committee on pilot evaluations in eThekwini, OR Tambo (Eastern Cape), and Waterberg (Limpopo), but members felt the presentation lacked depth.
They called for a detailed, municipality-by-municipality breakdown to better assess implementation milestones and achievements.
Despite being presented as a national model, only pilot sites have received focused attention.
Committee Chairperson Zweli Mkhize pointed to confusion around the term “pilot” and the lack of clarity on how these sites differ from others already working within the DDM framework.
“If the DDM is a national model, we need clarity on what differentiates a pilot site from a fully implemented one.
We must be able to track progress meaningfully across all districts and metros—not just a select few,” Mkhize said.
The committee urged the department to improve its communication to ensure broader understanding and buy-in from stakeholders and the public. Feedback from pilot sites revealed that many officials still see the DDM as an add-on, rather than a reform of existing systems.
The committee called for transparency, accountability, and consistent national rollout to properly assess the model’s impact across all 52 districts and metros.
Mkhize stressed that the DDM’s goal is to revolutionise governance and service delivery through integration—but warned that confusion and bureaucracy are undermining this intent.
“There’s a pressing need to separate political messaging from the reality of implementation.
Parliament must know where we stand—what’s been achieved, what hasn’t. The DDM’s value must not be buried in structures and jargon. Success depends on practical, coordinated action, not added bureaucracy.”
The committee noted that, according to the department’s own data, only half of the DDM’s goals had been met. Pilots reportedly struggled with forming partnerships and managing change, raising concerns about scaling the model to all 257 municipalities.
In response, department officials acknowledged misunderstandings and committed to submitting a comprehensive report covering all 52 implementation sites.
Officials reaffirmed that the DDM is not a replacement for existing frameworks like the National Development Plan or Integrated Development Plans, but rather a unifying tool to align planning, budgeting, and monitoring into a single ‘One Plan.’
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