The City of Windhoek (CoW) and the Drakenstein Municipality in South Africa has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the area of economic development, trade, tourism, culture, sports and urban planning and land management.

Windhoek mayor Elaine Trepper and Executive Mayor of the Drakenstein Municipality, Gessie van Deventer, on Tuesday signed the MoU on behalf of the two local authorities.

Trepper said here that the two local authorities have also agreed to co-operate in the area of civil engineering and technical services, such as water and waste management, and sewer networks.

“We believe these areas of co-operation are critical to improving municipal service delivery, and enhancing the quality of the life of our people.

We need to ensure that this co-operation remains a working partnership, and not a symbolic and/or mere protocol arrangement,” said Trepper.

She stressed that this agreement will serve to deliver on fostering better relations and mutual understanding between the two local authorities, and create opportunities for cross-cultural exploration and experiences.

The agreement will also serve to open up dialogue to address technical issues of mutual concern; create a conducive environment for economic development, trade and investment; and promote tourism.

“We should embrace the partnership and co-operation arrangements between the two local authorities as effective tools through which capacity-building, effective exchange of information, resources’ sharing, experiences and expertise could be realised,” she noted. On her part, Van Deventer congratulated the CoW councillors and management for the development of the city, saying they look forward to learning from them.Van Deventer promised to invite the CoW to visit the Drakenstein Municipality in the near future, and exchange information for the development of their local authorities.

Van Deventer was accompanied by the Drakenstein Municipality’s Local Economic Development and Tourism Councillor Girswin Fouldien; Executive Director of Strategic Services, Dr Pravine Naidoo; Mayoral Committee member for Economic Development and Tourism, Lourens du Toit; and Anre Koegellenberg, the Chief Whip of the Drakenstein Municipality. The Drakenstein Municipality is located within the Cape Winelands District Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.