DA Mayor Paul Swart is passionate about ensuring that the DA-led Cape Agulhas municipality is a place of opportunities, especially for the youth.
Under his leadership the DA-led municipality has embarked on several projects to ensure that the residents of Cape Agulhas have access to opportunities that will allow them to participate in sustainable economic activity.
In August 2019 Mayor Swart launched the Mayoral Youth Foundation, a multi-purposed skill-level development initiative. The launch event was attended by more than 300 young people from across the region and the mayor hopes that by the end of the year more than a 1 000 young people will form part of the foundation.
Mayor Swart, who has always been actively involved in community building, believes that this latest initiative will revitalise the municipality’s youth by providing them with skills development training, bursaries, substance abuse support groups, art performance programmes and social gathering hubs which provide access to the internet.
The municipality has entered a memorandum of understanding with Solution Base to help administer the Mayoral Youth Foundation project. Solution Base will also help to secure additional funding for the project and will collaborate with other non-profit organisations on skill development initiatives.
Young people from the age of fourteen are encouraged to apply to be a member of the foundation. Through their membership the youth of Cape Agulhas will enjoy a range of benefits which includes access to information on upcoming skills-development opportunities, support with completing post-school education, the development of entrepreneurship skills and assistance with business opportunities. Monthly satellite visits are planned for Napier, Bredasdorp, Elim, Struisbaai, Arniston and farm areas.
Mayor Swart is not only interested in seeing the youth flourish, but also wants to provide entrepreneurial support to all upcoming local entrepreneurs in Cape Agulhas.
The municipality is part of the Western Cape provincial government’s Regional Socio-Economic Programme and in early August the municipality received seven containers to be transformed into local economic development units. These units, once transformed, will be leased out to local entrepreneurs from previously disadvantaged backgrounds to sell their craft. The municipality is currently in the process of setting up their 1st Container Eco Hub Centre in Bredasdorp, with other hubs to be set up in other towns soon.
In 2018 the DA-led council also approved the Street Market Project, which enables local entrepreneurs to sell their craft every Saturday at markets managed by the municipality. To date, the number of stalls erected in each town is Arniston, 3; Bredasdorp, 50; Elim, 10; Ostrich Bay, 6; and Napier 15.
The DA-led municipality also hosted its economic and tourism summit as part of the municipality’s Consider Cape Agulhas campaign in early September. The event was held at the Nampo Cape Agricultural show and gave local businesses an opportunity to learn about all the developments planned in the municipality for the next two to three years.
These initiatives show that where it governs, the DA is committed to addressing unemployment, arguably South Africa’s most pressing issue.
