November 17, 2006
By Tabisa Mntengwana
IT seemed like the United Nations had come to Braamfontein when the diplomatic corps gathered for lunch at the Civic Theatre.
Hosted by the City of Johannesburg, 17 consul-generals and embassy staff from various countries sat down with City officials in a bid to build good relationships between the camps.
The meeting, at the City Lights boardroom in the Johannesburg Civic Theatre on Thursday, 16 November, kicked off with a welcome from the Speaker of council, Nkele Ntingane.
"We welcome you and hope that today is not the first and final day we meet like this," she said.
Johannesburg's executive mayor Amos Masondo presents a gift to Luis da Silva, Counsul-General of Mozambique
(Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)
She was followed by Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, who said, "The City's relationships with other countries are aimed at enhancing social development, poverty alleviation and promoting economic development through trade, investment and tourism."
Speaking about progress in Johannesburg in the last five years, city manager Mavela Dlamini presented a 20-minute video that gave an overview of the successes in areas such as housing, health, safety and security.
"Our key challenges as the City are transportation, urbanisation and infrastructure," Dlamini said.
In response, Masondo said that for the City to move forward, transform local government and deliver services to its citizens in this period of globalisation, it was important to establish and maintain sound relationships with other cities and regions.
He said that Joburg had sister city agreements with Lusaka, Kinshasa, Birmingham, Addis Ababa, London and Matola, in Mozambique.
The dean of the diplomatic corps, Mozambican consul-general Luis da Silva, who has been in South Africa for five years, also spoke at the luncheon.
"It is with great pride and joy that today we develop our activities in this beautiful and vibrant city of Johannesburg, free from racial segregation, and [that we are] able to contribute towards furthering and strengthening our friendship and co-operation ties at social, economic, political and diplomatic levels between our countries," Da Silva said.
Representatives from Italy, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Greece, India, Angola and Belgium, among others, attended the lunch. They were joined by members of the mayoral committee, for community development Nandi Mayathula-Khoza; for corporate support and shared services Christine Walters; for environment Prema Naidoo; for development planning and urban management Ruby Mathang; and for transport Rehana Moosajee, as well as by chief whip Bafana Sithole.
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