Speech by the Executive Mayor, Alderman Patricia de
Lille, at the renewal of the five year partnership with the
City of Aachen
The Lord Mayor of the City of Aachen, Marcel Phillip;
Representatives of the City of Aachen;
Mayoral Committee Members;
Councillors;
Guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;
Good morning, goeie môre, molweni.
The City of Cape Town is committed to building a Well-run City.
An important part of this commitment is the realisation that, through
constructive partnerships, we can benefit from the experience and
knowledge of other local governments.
As the world becomes proverbially smaller, cities, regardless of their
geography, size or population, often face similar problems.
By sharing ideas of international best practice and engaging in
constructive dialogue, we learn tried and tested ways of improving the
lives of our residents.
From finding solutions to tackle rising levels of urbanisation to formulating
strategies in order to attract investments in the local economy, there are
many opportunities for co-operation between cities.
And while specific challenges that cities face are often unique to their local
content and history, there exist similar challenges.
Like many other cities, Cape Town is grappling with limited resources to
meet its demands as a modern, global city.
In order to remain competitive, we are leveraging our partnerships with
other cities through joint ventures that will enable us to make Cape Town
the Opportunity City that we want it to be.
That is - a City that is committed to fostering an economic enabling
environment in which jobs can be created.
Our partnership with the City of Aachen aims to promote sustainable
development through partnership projects that address the
environmental, social and economic challenges that confront us.
It dates back to 2000, when the first Memorandum of Agreement was
signed under the auspices of the former Tygerberg Municipality and the
City of Aachen.
12 years later, our city has grown into a metro.
That growth has come with added responsibility.
Part of this responsibility is the need to continuously find innovative ways
to meet the service delivery expectations of our residents.
Today we are the best run municipality in the country.
This is not by chance.
It is the result of introducing sound policies and having the courage to
implement them, including appointing the right people for the right jobs.
It is also the result of applying lessons we have learned from cities like
Aachen.
All of the partnership projects between the Cape Town and Aachen have
one thing in common: to ultimately create opportunities for our residents.
One of the exciting outcomes of this partnership is the City’s Smart Series
campaign to promote the reduction of waste through recycling projects,
using green technologies in our buildings, and encouraging residents to
explore the benefits of organic gardening.
Another example of the success of this partnership is the Bicycle Recycle
Project to promote the use of non-motorised transport.
This project has seen over 1 800 bicycles from Aachen distributed to
young people in poor areas in our city, to encourage them to use cycling
an alternative means of transport.
The beneficiaries were provided training on safe cycling tips by the
Bicycling Empowerment Network.
Today we renew our partnership to work together with the City of Aachen
for another five years.
This will make this agreement one of Cape Town’s longest standing multilateral agreements.
This Memorandum of Agreement is a sign of our commitment that we will
continue working together for our mutual benefit.
The exchange programme will enable our officials to gain new insights
and skills that they need to help us reach higher levels of excellence in
municipal governance.
It will create opportunities for our civil society organisations to collaborate
on issues of mutual interest, to help them be more effective in their work.
It will also open doors for investment opportunities in both cities.
We are grateful to the City of Aachen for partnering with us.
The commitment we make today will go some way to helping us achieve
the goals we have set ourselves.
I would like to thank all my predecessors and the officials whose vision
gave birth to this partnership.
Thank you.