Speech by the City’s Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille
Mayor De Lille welcomes amaXhosa Kingship, King Mpendulo
Calvin Sigcawu, to Cape Town
Your majesty, amaXhosa Kingship, King Mpendulo Calvin Sigcawu.
I would like to welcome you and your delegation to the City of Cape Town.
It is truly an honour to be hosting you and other leaders of the Xhosa people.
You grace us with your presence.
This is an important moment of outreach for the City of Cape Town.
And indeed, it is a truly historic moment.
This city is a diverse one with a multicultural heritage.
Its history is ingrained in the separate and shared experiences of people over
thousands of years.
At different points, these cultures have interacted, clashed, and coexisted
with each other.
Indeed, the process of multicultural exchange is a complicated one.
And it is a process that finds different connection points within history that
express themselves today.
Xhosa people are a fixture of this multicultural exchange.
Your majesty, your people are part of the foundation of this great city of
Cape Town.
They add to our unique cultural, linguistic, and ethnic mix and add to the
distinctive fusion that makes up our multifaceted regional identity.
The Constitution and our legislative environment have ensured that traditional
leadership practices are recognised and celebrated in our democratic age.
This ensures that as we move towards a united political future, we retain those
parts of our country that are distinctive parts of our heritage.
This is the first time I have hosted the traditional leadership of the Xhosa
people in this fashion since becoming the Mayor.
We are trying to build an inclusive city in Cape Town.
That means creating shared experiences where we can show respect for the
cultures of the people who call this city home.
Inclusion means reaching across cultural, racial, and language barriers to
break down the walls between us and celebrate our differences and that
which unites us.
The leaders gathered in this room have the best interests of our city, our
province, and our country at heart.
It is our responsibility to ensure that we work together to improve the lives of
our people and create opportunities for everyone in our society.
In conclusion, your majesty, it is a privilege to host you and your delegation.
I hope that this meeting is the first of many and that it will stand as a living
symbol of our commitment to join our efforts for the betterment of our society.
We share collective responsibility in this room.
I hope that, through mutual respect and collaboration, we can build an
inclusive Cape Town.
Indeed, we will work with cooperative leadership structures and institutions in
order to do so.
Welcome once again.
Thank you, baie dankie, enkosi.