Executive Director

The Directorate: Strategic Services renders transversal services to the political leadership and administrative management of the Drakenstein Municipality. The Directorate consists of the following Departments/Units:

Media and Communication Unit

2. Strategic Plannning Unit (IDP & Organisational Performance)

3. Local Economic Development & Tourism

4. Intergovernmental Relations Unit

5. Rural Developmental Unit

The Directorate: Strategic Services is located in it’s own office complex (the old Land Bank building) at 60 Breda Street in Paarl. As from the 01st June 2011, it is envisaged that the Directorate: Strategic Services will relocate to the Wellington Civic Centre.

The Executive Director: Strategic Services is Dr Pravine Naidoo.

Dr Pravine Naidoo is an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa with specialized interests in Constitutional/Administrative/Municipal Law, Civil Engineering & Construction Law as well as Environmental Law & Town Planning Law.

He possesses a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree from the Business School Netherlands International (BSNi) as well as a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Degree from the Graduate School of Business at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

Furthermore, in April 2011, he graduated with a second doctoral degree, PhD (Commerce) in international strategic management and leadership models in local government at the Rhodes University Investec Business School in Grahamstown.

Dr Naidoo has attended and participated in various national and international conferences on local government leadership and management and has published his research in accredited academic journals.

Dr Pravine Naidoo has served in senior management positions in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and Western Cape Provinces and has fifteen (15) years experience in developmental local government. Prior to his appointment at Drakenstein Municipality, he served as Municipal Manager at the Makana Municipality in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape.

Dr Pravine Naidoo has been nationally and internationally recognized (by receiving various recognition awards) as a pioneer in the implementation of world-class innovative management systems in local government. Dr Naidoo has been appointed as the National Chairperson of the Regulatory & Professionalisation Committee of the Institute for Local Government Management of South Africa (ILGM) and serves as a member of its National Executive Committee (NEC).

Dr Naidoo has also been credited with pioneering, initiating and driving the accreditation of the Drakenstein Municipality's Tourism Unit in accordance with the ISO 9001: 2008 Quality Management Standards. In May 2011, the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) in Pretoria officially certified the Drakenstein Municipality's Tourism Unit as meeting the stringent requirements of the International Standards Organisation (ISO) based in Geneva, Switzerland. The Drakenstein Municipality's Tourism Unit is the only Tourism Unit/Department/Directorate that has achieved this unique honour and stamp of approval amongst all tourism structures in municipal/provincial/national government in South Africa. Furthermore, the Drakenstein Municipality is the only municipality on the African Continent to achieve this rare, prestigious and path-breaking international certification.