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Life after death

Mr Geoff Brown, Executive Chairperson of Black Oyster Capital in Knysna, recently donated a photograph, printed and framed, piece of artwork to the Eden District Municipality’s Executive Mayor, Cllr Memory Booysen. The picture was taken by a well-known photographer from Knysna; Warren Fleming and was taken two days after the devastating fires hit the town. The piece called ‘Life after Death’, portrays a Cape White Eye bird, sitting among remains left after the Knysna Fires that raged through the district in June 2017.

Eden DM Executive Mayor, Cllr Memory Booysen (left) in ecstasy after unveiling the artwork he received from Mr Geoff Brown (right).

Mr Brown explained to the Mayor that the reason for donating the artwork to Eden District Municipality (Eden DM), is because he believes that Eden will become the centre of regional economic development over the next five to ten years. “This District Municipality is going to transform into the most important commercial, political and administrative hub for the entire region. With de-urbanisation and people moving away from the cities, the district has already been declared as the next economic growth point after Stellenbosch. Due to that, it is vital for all organisations, private-, political- and social groups to develop relationships with the Eden District Municipality,” said Brown.

Executive Mayor Booysen responded by explaining that the district mayors and municipal managers took a conscious decision during a recent quarterly District Coordination Forum, to re-position Eden District as the next economic hub, and that “we will take the aftermath of the Knysna/Plettenberg Bay disaster and use the rebuild process as an opportunity to do it better; to do it sustainable; and to create more as an economic driver. He concluded by saying that the artwork is a symbol of the pain the district experienced, but at the same time, it portrays a healing tool. “You can’t change the past, but you can remember the past and build from there,” he added.

When asked where he plans to hang the artwork, Mayor Booysen responded, “definitely where it will be seen by everybody visiting the District Municipality’s Head office”.