J.B. Marks strengthens ties with Swedish municipality

The J.B. Marks Local Municipality once again strengthened their partnership with the Växjö Municipality in the Kronoberg County in southern Sweden recently.

The Executive Mayor, Gaba Ka Qhele and his delegation went to Sweden as part of the Monitoring Committee (MC) Meeting. The role of the Monitoring Committee is to exercise Monitoring and Evaluation of all projects that exist amongst different departments of the two Municipalities. Ka Qhele also mentioned this partnership in his 2023/24 budget address this past week.

“The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was reviewed in 2022 and will again be renewed in 2024. Up to date a total number of 39 projects are addressing thematic areas/issues,” he stated.

These projects include aspects such as Social Welfare and Social Development, City Planning, Adult Education, PR and Communication, Business Development, Green Open Spaces, Human Resources, Health Care, Political Leadership & Coalitions, Gender-Based Violence, Sports and Culture, Library, Rescue Services, Technical services, Budget and Finance, Disability and Daily Activities, Sustainable Energy Production and Agenda 2030.

“750 visited Sweden and South Africa. Partnerships included stakeholders from the three Municipalities also including Region, Province, University, Police Service, Church Faith-Based Sector, NGOs and Civic Society,” he added.

J.B. Marks municipality spokesperson, Jeanette Tshite reiterated that this partnership is a win/win principle for the municipality.

“This partnership has been ongoing for the past 17 years and is premised on a win-win principle. The second visit was for Councillors who are part of the Project for Politicians. They visited their counterparts in Sweden to work together on questions such as Coalition Governments. The Swedish are well experienced in this field as they had the same type for many years. It’s only now that it becomes a political way of life in South Africa,” explains Tshite.

“The cost of projects between the two partners are borne by the Swedish. The only cost to the J.B. Marks Local Municipality is the compulsory daily stipend that is paid for participants in the program. When the Swedish visit Potchefstroom, they pay their own way and the J.B. Marks Local Municipality makes local transport available,” added Tshite.