Keynote Address by Executive Mayor Cllr. Zintle Peter

• Mr. Programme Director
• Fellow Councillors
• Our partners in urban renewal from the Sol Plaatjie Municipality
• Business leaders and entrepreneurs
• Representatives of government and development agencies
• Senior officials and staff of the Municipality
• Honoured guests, Ladies and gentlemen

In my two years in office as Executive Mayor of Buffalo City I have learnt that when you talk to business people you must endeavour to keep the formalities to a minimum and just go straight to the business at hand.

But I am sure the Programme Director will allow me a few seconds to express my joy and gratitude to everybody assembled here this morning for responding positively to our call to come and talk about Mdantsane and what it has to offer.

I say this because I strongly believe that development of any nature has to take due cognissance of the needs of the prospective investor, and that it will be a futile exercise for any institution or agency to leave out the views of the private sector when laying the foundations for an economic Mecca.

The Mdantsane Urban Renewal Programme has been running for about fifteen years now. In that short space of time we have managed to turn around a situation that many viewed as a standard characteristic of a typical black township.

The misery and squalor that confronted us then were indicative of systematic neglect of the environment by the responsible agencies of the past government.

Life in Mdantsane was characterized by a stubborn strain of poverty and general disenchantment with living, and we soon realized that what was needed was a total revamp of the area to eradicate the social disparities that existed between Mdantsane and other developed cities.

I will not go into detail about what was or was not on the ground at that time except to point out that the prospects of Mdantsane ever becoming an attractive investment location were uncompromisingly bleak.

What was clear to every serious-minded person was that a lot of work had to be done to assist Mdantsane and its people to live dignified lives; to have access to self-employment and empowerment opportunities and to create a respectable and competitive environment.

We realized that for all this to happen we had to develop, rebuild and improve the infrastructure of Mdantsane to make it amicable to economic development.

At this point I would like to give credit to our National Government for keeping its side of the bargain.

Buffalo City has to-date received R128m from the Government's Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant for the development of the Mdantsane central business district.

The European Union has also come on board with a R120m development assistance package for upgrading the infrastructure and ensuring that Mdantsane has everything that big business wants in an investment node.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, today I am proud to announce that Mdantsane is ready to accommodate whatever size or form of commercial or industrial enterprise one can think of - from SMMEs to heavy industrial manufacturers; from small retail stores to wholesale giants; from corner cafes to respectable franchises.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a business dream, no matter how big or small, Mdantsane has the capacity to help you realize that dream.

One other thing I have learnt about business people is that they believe in weighing their options before venturing into a programme. The business environment in Mdantsane also accommodates this by providing a choice of three open doors for investors.

Depending on the size of your business, the first option is to identify a local micro enterprise to team up with. Fortunately, SMMEs abound in Mdantsane.

The municipality's skills development programme has resulted in the emergence of an impressive number of small micro entrepreneurs of different commercial disciplines. Local manufacturers will testify to the fact that these small operators have the capacity to go into profitable partnerships with big business

The second option is to go into a public-private partnership with the municipality. Local economic development is our mandate, and we are forever inviting private sector partners to avail their skills and capacity in this field.

Mdantsane is no exception. We have the same responsibility and we need the same kind of partners to honour the economic development paradigm of our urban renewal programme.

Lastly, the investor has the option of going-it-alone in whatever form of establishment that one envisages for Mdantsane. The Land is there for immediate acquisition; we have upgraded the roads and transport network, water and electricity reticulation; there is an abundance of skilled labour at your doorstep; there is a wide choice of banking facilities within Mdantsane; and the available information technology and telecommunications networks are of a very high and reliable standard.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is just a small sample of what Mdantsane has to offer to the investor and the small entrepreneur. In a short while we will be watching a video presentation that will give us more details.

Let me therefore conclude by inviting everybody to feel free to interrogate any piece of information that you feel is relevant or may be beneficial to your kind of operation.

That is the general objective of this networking session. Make sure that when you leave this sports centre you have answers to all the questions that will spring to mind.

I thank you.

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