30 October 2020 Speech by Executive Mayor, Alderman Memory Booysen at an Ordinary Council meeting of Garden Route DM

Speaker Alderman Groenewald

Once again I would like to extend my gratitude to all the frontline workers who are fighting COVID-19, which is causing havoc in our region and South Africa as a whole. The figures still don’t look favourable in the Garden Route, seeing that numbers are rising daily.

Alderman Groenewald, earlier this week the Garden Route District Municipality launched the District Safety Forum in Mossel Bay which was attended by all seven B-municipalities and representatives from the Western Cape Department of Community Safety, as well as sector departments within the district. We are privileged to announce that the project is funded by the Western Cape Department of Community Safety and that all sector departments and municipalities that were present pledged their full support towards the project. As a District Municipality, we believe it is not just about the financial safety in our district, but also about the well-being of our communities which in turn will play a big part in changing the community’s morals. We want to commend the Mossel Bay Municipality for already stepping forward in formulating their safety plan and we want to encourage the other municipalities to follow suit.

The funds are here, so if a municipality does not want to make use of it, they will definitely lose out. The current situation of overcrowdedness and newborn babies at correctional facilities within the district are some of the critical priorities that need to be addressed by the District Safety Forum.

As a District Municipality, we also strive towards seeing our people live in a healthy and clean environment. That’s why we are pleased to announce that the Garden Route District Municipality in collaboration with the George Municipality will tomorrow, 31 October 2020, host an illegal dumping awareness session in Thembalethu. As a District Municipality, we do not want to overstep or take over the local municipality’s roles. We are aware that some of the municipalities in the district are struggling and for that reason we want to partner with them and assist them in terms of finance or capacity.

In terms of the upcoming by-elections, we would like to plea to the different political parties in all the local municipal areas to continue conducting their campaigns in good spirit. Up until today, there was no record of violence and that’s the spirit we want to encourage in the Garden Route District.

Thank you Speaker Groenewald.