Photo: From left: Mrs Munsamy Jeeva, CUT Deputy Director: Community Engagement; Mr Morena Neo Mopeli, Chairperson of the Provincial House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leader; Mr Karabo Dube, Chief Promoter of InvestRural.

Over 20 million people in South Africa live in rural areas and most of these communities are distressed by underdevelopment and poverty.

In collaboration with the Free State Provincial House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders, CUT hosted a two-day InvestRural Stakeholders Engagement meeting on 01 and 02 February 2023.  The engagement was to drive sustainable economic development, eradicate poverty, and tackle inequality in rural communities.

InvestRural presented the master plan and implementation framework, which provided a comprehensive review of South Africa’s rural areas to identify the most promising prospects, and sector-specific solutions. The plan projected workable solutions to poverty, inequality, and unemployment issues. It also advocated collaboration with all sectors to archive innovation and implementation, as well as support inclusive economic growth, infrastructure investment and reliable service delivery for all.

Prof. Alfred Ngowi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement, commended InvestRural for the initiative devoted to uplifting rural communities. “I want to applaud InvestRural for bringing hope to the rural communities because often, people in the villages find themselves in unpleasant situations beyond their control. Sustainable development is important to us as it enables everyone to collaborate with stakeholders at different levels. We are also inspired to be part of this collaboration,” he said.

Mr Karabo Dube, Chief Promoter: InvestRural, said that InvestRural aims to assist disadvantaged communities to realise their full potential and to transform the mindset of rural communities and behaviour, ultimately realising the vision of an Africa- where rural people live with dignity, work towards prosperity, and have hope for the future.

InvestRural is a South African initiative committed to improving the livelihoods of rural people and bringing together traditional communities with the capacity, expertise, and resources to turn rural challenges into investible opportunities.