A new era of community federalism was ushered in today with the signing of a unique five-year memorandum of understanding. This memorandum, which was signed today in a public park in Valhalla, Centurion, by the civil rights organisation AfriForum and the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality now officially encourages mutual support and community involvement in undertaking a wide range of agreed-upon projects in this capital.

Cilliers Brink, Executive Mayor of the Tshwane Metro, and Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, gave actual meaning to this partnership today by getting their hands dirty with the renovation of Furman Park in Valhalla. They did not let any grass grow under their feet and leaped into action by cutting the park’s grass themselves.

With the signing of the memorandum, AfriForum and the Tshwane Metro agree, among other things, to take on challenges with regard to the protection and safeguarding of infrastructure and the environment of the city’s communities. This will be done in the spirit of cooperative governance and development. The Metro makes it clear in the memorandum that it welcomes the assistance of organisations like AfriForum in maintaining infrastructure, safeguarding communities and ensuring the sustainable management of the environment for future generations. 

The need for increasing community involvement in the maintenance and safeguarding of infrastructure and the delivery of basic municipal services has come under threat over the past couple of years due to increasing pressure on infrastructure and service delivery in this metro. AfriForum and the Tshwane Metro, therefore, hope to address these challenges more effectively through this memorandum.

Services and projects that form part of the parties’ cooperation include, among others:

• the promotion of community-based waste removal and cleanup projects
• grass cutting projects
• the removal of alien plant species
• the identification of illegal dumping sites
• community safety initiatives
• increased visibility, monitoring and reporting suspicious activities to the municipality
• assistance in the determent of land invasions

“On behalf of the City of Tshwane, I want to thank AfriForum for continuously supporting our city, assisting to protect our infrastructure and keeping our communities safe. This memorandum of understanding (MOU) will now formalise a valued relationship and help improve our working relations going forward,” says Brink.

These types of collaborations form part of the Tshwane Metro’s whole-of-society approach, where the city seeks to work together with businesses, civil society and communities to improve service delivery and formalise partnerships among various stakeholders across the Tshwane Metro. 

The city encourages all businesses, communities and residents to work with the Metro to build a capital city we can all be proud of. Furthermore, the city recently launched the Community Upliftment Precinct (CUP) initiative. The CUP initiative is aimed at assisting residents, businesses and communities to enter into a formal agreement with the city to maintain and improve public infrastructure within their residential, business and industrial areas.

According to Kriel, the memorandum that was signed with the Tshwane Metro today is an important step in AfriForum’s pursuit of the devolution of power to community level and the establishment of community-based federalism. “Organised communities that act in the interest of their own communities in fact create a new reality in which a do-it-yourself culture is not only encouraged but can also flourish. Limited resources necessitate the optimal use of expertise and energy from within local communities for the benefit of the community,” explains Kriel. “Through this approach, communities take ownership and responsibility for their future and, as it were, fulfil the role of a de facto fourth sphere of government. It is a tried and tested practice that is applied with great success elsewhere in the world. Today AfriForum and the Tshwane Metro took a giant leap into the future to involve residents of our Metro in establishing a modern and successful community-based city,” Kriel emphasises.