Manenberg
3 December 2007
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool will tomorrow, Tuesday sign a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) with Proudly Manenberg, committing R650 000 over three
years of government funds to the development of Manenberg. The Memorandum of
Understanding is the first agreement to be signed by the Western Cape
government and one of the Premier's 21 Priority Areas in the province. In his
State of the Province Address earlier this year, Premier Rasool called for a
partnership between the government and people of the Western Cape. As a first
step, the Premier urged the province's most vulnerable communities to set up
umbrella structures which would act as the link between government and
communities. In this case, Proudly Manenberg is the umbrella structure which
has been formed by the people and community leaders of Manenberg, one of the
Premier's Priority Areas.
Date: Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Time: 11h00
Place: Manenberg People's Centre, Schelt Road, Manenberg
On the significance of the Memorandum, Premier Rasool said: "At the
beginning of this year we promised the people of the Western Cape that we would
focus government resources on those areas most affected by gangs, drugs (such
as Tik), crime, poverty and unemployment.
"We challenged communities to organise themselves into proper representative
structures like the people of Manenberg had already started to do."This
agreement between the Western Cape government and Proudly Manenberg is a sign
that we are working hard to ensure that we deal, in an organised manner, with
the challenges of drugs, gangs, crime and poverty facing our communities.
"With our commitment of R650 000 over three years we're putting our money
where our mouth is, we're walking the talk and it is yet another sign that we
are serious about the work we set out to do in the Western Cape. "The approach
demonstrates that a community-based approach to development that includes all
the sectors represented in the community can lead to real empowerment.
"We urge all other communities, especially those in our Priority Areas, to
work equally hard towards formalising the partnership that we in the Western
Cape government have called for," he said. The 21 communities are: Khayelitsha,
Mitchell's Plain, Gugulethu, Philippi, Nyanga, Oudtshoorn, Delft, Kleinvlei,
Muizenberg, Elsies River, Bishop Lavis, Paarl, Vredenburg, Manenberg, Hanover
Park, Kannaland, Witzenberg, Cedarberg, Theewaterskloof, Central Karoo
(Beaufort West), Matzikama.
Proudly Manenberg, the Khayelitsha Development Forum, and three more
structures in Gugulethu, Oudtshoorn, and Philippi have succeeded in finalising
their community consultations and the election of umbrella structures. Other
communities are in various stages of progress in establishing the structures.
Proudly Manenberg was the first of these structures to submit a fully fledged
business plan following a strategic planning session which enables the
provincial government to transfer R600 000 to them over a period of three
years.
This will fund operational expenditure and costs relating to implementation
of the programmes contained in the business plan. More importantly, it will
enable the umbrella organisations to leverage further programme funding from
other government departments (national, provincial, and local spheres) and
stakeholders such as State Owned Enterprises (SoEs), business and other organs
of civil society.
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding is testimony to government's
commitment to build partnerships with communities towards the entrenchment of a
developmental approach to service delivery. It also sends a clear signal that
government is succeeding to work together with communities to leverage
resources for development. This creates the opportunities for marginalized and
depressed communities to start seeing hope and the glimmer of a brighter
future.
Enquiries:
Jeremy Michaels
Chief Director: Communications
Department of the Premier
Provincial Government of the Western Cape
Cell: 082 772 1122
Office: 021 483 9955
Fax: 021 483 7196
E-mail: jmichaels@pgwc.gov.za
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Western Cape Provincial Government
3 December 2007
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government (http://www.capegateway.gov.za)
