23 Aug 2018

Jwaneng councillors are hopeful for a fruitful outcome of their twinning programme with the Municipality of Swakopmund in Namibia.  

The town mayor Mr Obed Monkge told a full council meeting on August 22 that a significant milestone in the envisaged partnership has so far been achieved.

The mayor said he led a delegation of councillors, officers and other stakeholders on June 2018 to Namibia on a fact-finding mission which culminated in the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two urban areas.

“This is a significant achievement since the MoU suggests that we have struck a common ground with our counterpart in Namibia. Formation of strategic partnerships with other organisations is critical and the council should learn and get exposed to innovative ideas and opportunities to share best practices and resources. We remain positive about the outcome of this twinning programme,” said Mr Monkge.

Swakopmund is the capital of the Erongo Administrative district and the town has 44 725 inhabitants. 

The city is situated in the Namib Desert and it is the fourth largest population centre in Namibia which attracts thousands of tourists every year.

He noted that local economic empowerment was one of the proposed areas of engagement and was hopeful that the programme which would enhance service delivery would be realised in the not so distance future. 

He said the exercise would be centred on collaboration in the development of tourism initiatives, cultural exchanges, post mine planning, public health reforms and urban planning.

He explained that the next step would be a return trip by the Municipality of Swakopmund officials and they expect to cement the twinning once they identify good practices which they would also tap on to implement in the municipality.

Responding to the mayor’s speech, Councillor for Ngami ward Mr Bankinyana Montsiemang hailed the anticipated twinning, however, advising on communication with the relevant stakeholders to enhance the initiative.

He said the Jwaneng council had been on a twinning mission with the City of Peoria in the USA and Boteti Sub-council and they were hoping for consistent communication with the said entities to share common practices.

Meanwhile, it was not the first time the Jwaneng Council engaged on a twinning programme with entities. 

The council signed a memorandum of understanding in 2014 through the then mayor, Mr Amos Jahana and his counterpart from Peoria in the USA, Mr Jim Ardis, to formalise their partnership. ENDS