Honourable Premier, Mphemba, Mr Thamsanqa Ntuli;
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers;
MECs and Mayors;
Amakhosi;
Senior Officials from all levels of government:
Let me start by expressing our gratitude to the Premier for the invitation to participate in what we regard as a critical platform to enhance the implementation of the District Development Model and improve the delivery of services to our people.
As the Department that is responsible for our country’s science, technology and innovation policy, we are of the view that, if we are to achieve our key development goals such as housing, education, water provision, economic infrastructure, safety and security and deal with the negative impact of climate change such as floods.
Government and all public institutions will have to deliberately integrate science, technology and innovation into their work. This is why we believe that the District Development Model provides our Department with the perfect opportunity to implement our strategic objective of integrating innovation across all of levels of government.
This is part of our Department’s contribution to building a capable, ethical and developmental state through science, technology and innovation. Towards this end, we have led several initiatives to promote innovation in municipalities.
We have introduced the Viability and Validation of Innovations for Service Delivery Programme (VVISDP), which is funded by our Department and the European Union.
As some of you know, the VVISDP involves about 35 municipalities and seeks to test how innovation and technology can be used to provide basic services like water and sanitation, energy, waste management, e-participation, disaster response, and capacity building for public officials.
The main goal is to empower public officials to identify and use innovations, enhance their ability to pilot and test new solutions, and create a network of actors, including academics and practitioners, to support the development, application, and spread of innovations within government processes.
A significant milestone has been the signing of MoUs between our Department and some municipalities, hosting the Municipal Innovation Recognition Awards (MIRA) 2025, and establishing STI policies in certain municipalities.
We have also asked our entity the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) to conduct a policy research survey of sector departments’ policies and frameworks regarding openness to innovation.
The study seeks to assess (1) how government department policies have embraced innovation; (2) how these departments have integrated STI into their policies and programs; and (3) how they have fostered a culture of innovation within and across organizations from a policy perspective.
The first part of the study evaluated policies of 12 government departments. The Phase 2 report includes findings from all government departments. These findings regarding STI readiness will be shared with me as Minister, and we may also present them at the Inter-Ministerial Committee or the Portfolio Committee.
We have also reviewed the draft of the District Development Model (DDM) Implementation Framework (IF). The definition of Catalytic Projects in the DDM framework does not include technology and innovation projects.
Despite this, the revised IF aims to position the DDM as a “game changer.” We have written to Department of Cooperative Governance requesting that the DDM framework include a pillar of Science, Technology, and Innovation.
We have also introduced the Technology Acquisition and Deployment Fund (TADF). This another initiative that is aimed at strengthening the procurement and deployment of locally developed technologies by government departments and municipalities in KZN.
This tool has been successfully tested in the province, enhancing basic service delivery through local technologies across government, municipalities, and communities.
To support this, we introduced the Municipal Innovation Maturity Index (MIMI), a decision-support tool that measures and benchmarks innovation capacity across South African municipalities. MIMI evaluates the abilities of individual employees and municipalities to learn, implement, and institutionalize innovations that improve basic services.
It was created and funded by our Department, implemented by UKZN, and supported by SALGA. So far, two State of Municipal Innovation Reports (2021 and 2024) have been published, offering insights into innovation use and application in municipalities. The 2024–2025 MIMI report provides the most detailed national view of innovation capacity to date, with 57 municipalities participating.
Lastly, our Department has launched the Municipal Innovation Fund (MIF), currently being piloted by our entity**, the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA)** to enable municipalities to apply for funding for technology and innovation projects that meet their requirements.
In conclusion, global evidence shows that, advances in science and technology create enable governments to address issues like poverty, inequality, infrastructure gaps, and sustainability more effectively.
There is therefore no doubt in mind that our own Municipalities, as the level of government closest to the people, can significantly enhance service delivery by implementing these innovations.
All our interventions also aim to support the realisation of our Department’s newly adopted mantra, which is: Placing Science, Technology and Innovation at the centre of government, education industry and society.
Thank you
