Rural Development

Programme 8.

The role of the Rural Development programme has been refined and structured, primarily through the adoption of the Integrated Rural Development Sector Strategy (IRDSS) (2023) and a focus on Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP).
The core role of the programme is to Coordinate, Facilitate, Catalyse, and Initiate the Implementation of a CRDP to achieve vibrant, equitable, and sustainable rural communities while ensuring food security for all.
This role is refined into the following key responsibilities and focus areas:

1. Strategic Alignment and Coordination

The programme acts as a cross-cutting function that requires partnerships with multiple stakeholders within and outside government. This involves:

  • Intergovernmental Coordination: Facilitating and ensuring non-integrated interventions are coordinated through the District Development Model (DDM) and District Rural Development Implementation Plans (DRDIPs).
  • Infrastructure Oversight: Specifically seeking to facilitate, coordinate, and conduct assessment on infrastructure development to address historical challenges and build on the CRDP.
  • Policy Implementation: Taking forward the implementation of the CRDP by drawing lessons from previous strategies and aligning with the National Development Plan (NDP).
    Policy Mandate
    The following are some of the major policy documents guiding the activities of the Rural Development Programme:
  • Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act no.108 of 1996);
  • Integrated Rural Development Sector Strategy (IRDSS) (2023);
  • Rural Development Framework of 1997;
  • War on Poverty Programme;
  • Infrastructure Development in Rural Areas Policy;
  • Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA) (Act No. 62 of 1997);
  • National Comprehensive Rural Development Programme Strategy;
  • Free State Comprehensive Rural Development Strategy;
  • Green Paper on Rural Development;
  • Free State Growth Development Strategy;
  • The National Rural Safety Strategy

2. Driving the Rural Economy (Six Pillars of IRDSS)


The IRDSS (2023) structures the revitalisation of the rural economy around six key pillars, three of which are drivers and three are supporting elements:
Driving Pillars (Pillars 1-3):
Pillar 1: Infrastructure Development, Maintenance and Investment: Focusing on productive infrastructure in areas like agriculture, water and irrigation, roads, energy, and the digital economy.

  • The Key Performance Area (KPA), for Infrastructure Assessment is specifically recording the development in rural areas, looking at issues like of electricity, network connectivity and road infrastructure to support rural safety, wherein the long-term objective includes addressing lack of basic services through infrastructural projects like sanitation, water, housing, and energy which in turn goes towards investment in rural areas.
    Pillar 2: Industrialisation, Enterprise Development and Job Creation: Focusing on economic upliftment in rural areas.
  •  Livelihoods and Enterprise: Implementing a job creation model and forming strategic partnerships to facilitate value-added services such as agro-processing and the establishment of village industries and enterprises, including cooperatives.
    Pillar 3: Education and Skills Development: Focusing on building the human capital required for development.
  • Skills Transfer: Providing technical support, capacity building, and developing training programmes aligned with economic opportunities, which empowers rural communities through skills transfer and developing artisans.
  • Also Capacity Building and Training, through awareness campaigns for both police officers and rural communities on crime prevention and security best practices.
    Supporting Pillars (Pillars 4-6):
    Pillar 4: Provision of Basic Services.
  • Social Mobilisation: Utilizing a participatory approach to assess household needs, through household profiles, and through community profiling, enable communities to prioritize their development projects.
  • Also eradicate multidimensional poverty through integrated service delivery / Blitz, and thus addressing factors contributing to protests, such as the lack of basic services (clean water, sanitation, electricity) and poor service quality. This includes delivering a “Basket of Services” (vital documents, social security, and energy supply).
    Pillar 5: Land and Agrarian Reform and Tenure Security.
  • Purpose is to provide long-term security of land tenure for occupiers, ensure fair eviction processes, and facilitate access to alternative accommodation if need be.
  • Also to try amicable solution by facilitate mediation and arbitration in early stages to eliminate unnecessary court battles.
    Pillar 6: Social, Community and Human Development.
  • The strategic approach is social in nature, focusing on household profiling and community engagement (profiling) to combat poverty and curb service delivery protests, which are indicators of social unrest.
  • Contributes to pillar 5: by establishing a peaceful and just society through community mobilisation, and establishment of community policing, and Rural Safety Forums.
    Overall Objective of the Rural Development through CRDP
    The overall objective is to improve the quality of life in rural areas by creating vibrant, equitable, and sustainable communities through economic, social, and infrastructural growth. This involves enhancing agricultural productivity, creating employment and livelihood opportunities, improving access to basic services like healthcare and education, and building necessary infrastructure, while empowering residents to participate in their own development.
    In the nutshell, it aims at minimising migration of people from rural areas to urban areas and cities in search of better life.