March 8, 2002
By Thomas Thale
THE executive mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Councillor Amos Masondo, has flown to the United Kingdom to foster closer relations between Johannesburg and the cities of Birmingham and London.
He is accompanied on his tour by the city manager, Pascal Moloi, and the director of finance, Roland Hunter.
Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK after London. "Like Jo'burg, Birmingham has a culturally diverse population. The city is also moving away from old industries dominated by manufacturing to business and financial services," said Rashid Seedat, the director of Corporate Planning. It is these similarities, which makes Birmingham an attractive partner for Jo'burg.
Johannesburg has had a sisterhood agreement with the city of Birmingham since 1997. According to Rashid Seedat, the director of Corporate Planning, the agreement needed to be brought in line with the new unicity structure. The agreement also had to be reconciled with the city's new international relations policy which was adopted in 2000.
A sisterhood agreement entails a close working relationship between two cities in areas like commerce, cultural exchange and city governance. The mayor's visit is aimed at exchanging information and designing a programme of joint activities between the two cities.
Johannesburg and Birmingham will investigate the possibility of working together in education programmes. This will be in the form of schools from both cities exchanging teaching material, staff and information. Training and upgrading the skills of council workers of the two cities will also come up for discussion. The feasibility of involving youth in environmental projects of the two cities will be probed. Another crucial area of collaboration is in the jewellery industry. The School of Jewellery at the University of Central England will work jointly with the Witwatersrand Technicon in this project.
Finally, the city of Johannesburg and Birmingham will work together in developing small businesses in the two cities.
The mayor's itinerary includes a series of meetings with local councillors and senior officials of the Birmingham Council, a visit to local factories and other tourist sites and a meeting with the CEO of Focus Housing to explore the possibility of collaboration on the Alexandra rejuvenation project. It is envisaged that the Birmingham city council will assist with expertise on the plan to upgrade Alexandra township. The highlight of the tour will be the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding scheduled for Tuesday.
Thereafter, the mayor will leave for London to explore possible areas of cooperation between Johannesburg and the city of London. The London leg of the tour will include meetings to discuss issues such as policing, governance and economic development. The London Development Agency has organised a presentation on trade, investment and tourism for the party. The mayor will have breakfast with the Lord Mayor of the Corporation of London on Friday, and thereafter go sight seeing.
The mayor is due back in the city this weekend.
