Chris Louw and Gaye Davis
MINISTER without Portfolio Jay Naidoo will address non- governmental organisations in Johannesburg today to discuss their role in the government’s reconstruction and development programme.
The two-day conference, to be attended by more than 200 NGOs and representatives of civics, unions, youth and women’s organisations from across the country, comes amid concern in NGO circles over their future relationship with the state and their involvement in the RDP.
A row broke out after the Mail & Guardian recently disclosed details of proposals submitted to government advocating a “licensing system” for RDP trainers — seen by NGOs as a bid to marginalise them.
Summit steering committee member Monty Narsoo said critical areas of debate would include the kind of legal, institutional and financial framework the RDP will have and the extent to which civil society will be able to feed into it. The agenda will also focus on the kind of projects the RDP will be implementing and NGOs’ role in these. Over-arching debates will focus on redefining NGOs’ relationship with the state, the extent of government regulation of their activities and their relationship with the communities they serve.
“Various constituency-based organisations will be there to make inputs and NGOs themselves will have to deal with their own strengths and weaknesses and try to make as constructive a set of proposals as possible,” Narsoo said.