Latest AC News

Xolani Mbeleni and Musa  Sebugwawo will be attending a Site Inspection in Hamburg bridge in Peddie Local Municipality. This process forms part of the Coega Consultancy work and will be taking place today at 12h00 pm.The Afesis- corplan team as the appointed  Social Facilitators for the project will schedule meetings with Hamburg Civil Society next week to inform them about the project plans.

Afesis-corplan takes pleasure in inviting you as a major stakeholder to its 2nd Quarterly Seminar for 2011. The aim of the seminar is to open a platform for insightful  engagement on the results and implications of the local government elections on our democracy. It is targeted at stakeholders within the Eastern Cape Province and all institutions. Speakers for the day will include :

 A critical analysis of the election campaigns adopted by the opposition (manifestos)- Mr. E. Fakir
 Interrogating the possible effects of the service delivery protests and the party skirmishes- Dr. J. Cherry
 The merits and demerits of a single election (in view of challenges identified above) - Dr. S. Fikeni.

The seminar will be held on Friday the 24th June 2011, between 09:00 and 13:00 hours at the Osner hotel in East London. Everyone is welcome to attend and to invite other interested parties.

The Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Human Settlements, Afesis-corplan and the Development Action Group (DAG) will be hosting  a Land Value Capture (LVC) roundtable discussion on the 27th June 2011.The purpose of the roundtable is to introduce the concept of Land Value Capture (LVC) to key invited role-players in the province and to explore opportunities for where LVC can play a role and how it can be promoted, supported, and implemented. The roundtable will be held between 09:00 and 13:00 hours at the Osner hotel in East London.

Afesis Corplan  will be hosting a Project Charter Meeting on the 22nd June 2011  to discuss and agree on the Project Charter for the Zanyokwe Irrigation Scheme. Other stakeholders who will be attending the meeting include the Department of Agriculture , Amahlathi Local Municipality, Amatole District Municipality , DBSA and AsigiSA-EC.

Ronald Eglin and Malachia Mathoho attended a workshop organised by the national department on Rural Development and Land Reform on 19 May 2011 in East London to review the draft Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Bill that was promulgated on 6 May 2011.  
A copy of the bill can be found at:  
http://www.info.gov.za/view/DynamicAction?pageid=623&myID=295087

The public has until the 6 June 2011 to make comments on the bill. It is unlikely that this deadline will be extended as government has until June 2012 to finalise new planning legislation to replace the Development Facilitation Act.  The DFA was found by the constitutional court in 2010 to be invalid in respect to provincial government performing certain planning functions that the court ruled where the preserve of municipalities.

You can contact the following people at the DRDLR if you want more information or to make comments.  
• Sunday Ogunronbi - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Rajesh Makan - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Lindiwe Mabona - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

On Friday the 6th of May, Afesis-corplan will be holding an internal workshop where Mr. Peter Kimemia will be taking colleagues through the rationale, objectives and strategies employed by the Organization’s Local Governance Programme. Among the projects to be discussed are:

• The Good Governance Surveys (GGS)
• The Civil Society Action Groups (CSAGs)
• Ward Key Performance Indicators Matrix (WKPIs)
• Deliberative Democracy Project (DDP)
• Civic Education Project (CEP)
• Community Communications Project  (CCP)

The workshop will take place at the Afesis-corplan’s main boardroom and the entire progamme staff of the organization will be in attendance.

On the 4th of May 2011 Afesis corplan conducted the first site visit for the Mvezo Interpretative Centre Project, which is funded by Lotto. The project will be situated at the birth place of the icon Nelson Mandela. This Interpretative Centre Project is phase one of two phases and will form part of the Entire cultural centre in Mvezo village.The project is anticipated to take about 24 months to complete. Mvezo village is under the custodianship of Cheif Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela one of the grandsons of Nelson Mandela.This project will consist of new physical structures as well as training of local community in the related aspects.

Gugu Mgwebi will be meeting the Civil Society Action Groups in Amahlathi and Great Kei Local Municipalities. The objective of the meeting is to compile activity plans that will address  the various challenges around identifying possible ways in which we as civil society could strengthen the existing gaps in promoting participatory democracy. The meetings take place between the 29th and 30th March 2011.

On behalf of the organisation Ronald Eglin will be participating in an exciting initiative called ‘The Right to the City Dialogue Series’. The event is organised by Isandla Institute and the Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC).The Right to the City has become a powerful rallying cry for actors around the globe who are concerned with advancing equitable, inclusive, democratic and sustainable urban settlements. It has also become increasingly present in the rhetoric of civil society organisations and government in South Africa, but it has yet to be given a concrete and context-specific form. Through a series of iterative dialogues between representatives of organisations of the urban poor on the one hand and the NGO sector on the other, Isandla Institute and CORC seek to give the concept content and momentum in a South African context. It is envisaged that the deliberations will culminate in a national policy dialogue towards the end of 2011.The dialogue will be held in Cape Town on Wednesday 30 March 2011.

Ronald Eglin will be attending a workshop on ‘Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and LANDfirst’. Organised by the LANDfirst network the purpose of the workshop is to develop short to medium term plans that look at how network members can use ITC and other methods to improve communication between members so as to further the networks objectives. The workshop will be held on the 29 March 2011 in Orion Devonshire Hotel: Corner Jorissen & Melle Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.