Mogoditshane-Thamaga District Council is looking to turn lessons from China trip into a new investment push, with prospective investors already lined up for follow-up visits targeting agriculture, green energy, mining, logistics, housing and eco-tourism. Addressing the full council session on Tuesday, Council Chairperson Molatedi Selala said a recent mission to China has exposed the district to development models that could help communities become more economically productive. This could go a long way in reducing pressure on increasingly constrained public finances.
Selala, who was part of a national delegation that recently travelled to Wuhan in July for a two weeks’ seminar on rural poverty alleviation, told the councillor’s session that “follow-up investor visits are already scheduled. A comprehensive report on the China trip will be shared with this Honourable House in due course, once it has been formally adopted by the Ministry.”
Beyond the official programme, the mission became an opportunity to explore how China has transformed rural communities into productive economic centres.
One of the strongest lessons, he told councillors, was the shift from passive welfare dependence towards enterprise creation, with communities organised into cooperatives capable of producing and commercialising high-value products.
For a rapidly growing district such as Mogoditshane-Thamaga, the model offers an alternative way of thinking about local economic development, not simply as the provision of municipal services, but as creating conditions for communities and businesses to generate wealth.
China’s One Village, One Product model particularly caught the delegation’s attention. It is under the model, communities develop commercially viable products around local resources, creating multiple income streams through land rentals, wages and dividends.
For a rapidly growing district such as Mogoditshane-Thamaga, the model offers an alternative way of thinking about local economic development, not simply as the provision of municipal services, but as creating conditions for communities and businesses to generate wealth. Digital agriculture and e-commerce were another area identified for possible benchmarking. Chinese rural producers are increasingly connected directly to markets through digital platforms, reducing their reliance on middlemen.
The delegation also examined alternative financing mechanisms, including municipal partnerships, corporate collaborations and public-private partnerships, which could help unlock projects at a time when government resources are under pressure. The push for investment comes as the council faces growing financial pressures, with tight allocations being stretched by rising maintenance obligations, service demands and utility costs. Selala warned that the situation requires greater financial discipline and efficiency across departments, with every project expected to deliver maximum value to residents.
Despite the constraints, it was noting that the council’s commercial arm is generating revenue. The chairman revealed to the councillors that, during the second quarter, the Commercial Affairs Division issued 252 trade licences and 405 permits, generating more than P244,000. The council is also stepping up monitoring of businesses to tackle fronting and other forms of non-compliance, which Selala said would protect legitimate operators while strengthening the council’s revenue base.
