Speech by Executive Mayor Sindisile Maclean at the opening of the Tembisa Maclean Home for Abused Women and Children in East London on 13 August 2003.

Acknowledgements:
Living Waters Board of Directors Messrs Ahschlager, Benjamin, Cromhout and Kriedeman
Executive Director Melonie Gobel
Speaker Matomela
Councillors
Dignitaries
Members of my family
Ladies and gentlemen.

Dealing with mixed emotions of profound lingering grief and pride which flows from the very source of your grief is difficult. In standing before you today on behalf of my family on this memorable occasion, I want to open my heart to you. The 16 months of my bereavement has caused physical pain. So if I falter, please bear with me.

I have never shared publicly my pain and sorrow but since a spiritual ministry in conjunction with business have seen fit to name this magnificent institution the Tembisa Maclean Home for Abused Women and Children, I feel free to tell you what it means to me.

My family and I think it is a fitting tribute but before I falter, let me thank the drivers behind this magnificent facility being named after my beloved wife.

The personal suffering and the God-given ability to endure have not been in vain. Today we know that a facility such as this bears the name of the one taken from us so painfully at a tender age lives on.

We believe it is a fitting tribute to a blooming wife, mother and daughter cut down just months after assuming the mantle of being the First Lady of Buffalo City. Today I would like to dedicate a Bible verse to her, but it is too long to quote.

I ask for the liberty to quote just the last six lines of the verse, Proverbs 31: Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character:

Many women do noble things;
But you surpass them all.
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting;
But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised
Give her the reward she has earned
And let her works bring her praise at the City gate.

Today we stand at the gates of our City with this outstanding facility that offers hope and protection to the most vulnerable in our society. It is a tremendous contribution to our society through compassionate people like Melonie and her Board of Directors as well as Johnson & Johnson.

The opening of this second safe house comes at a time when we are in the grip of evil mindless violence, violence which is tearing apart the very fabric of our society with unspeakable unGodly acts.

Just yesterday, we read how a young man possessed by jealousy fired a fatal bullet into the body of a young mother with a month-old baby. What demon can drive a person to such an unspeakable crime?

It is comforting that we have an institution such as this and I want to urge our churches to link up through productive partnerships such as this to bring comfort and healing to our society facing unheard of social problems.

Just last week we were given a presentation by the Eastern Cape Council of Churches on their outreach programmes and how they are trying to play their role in not only preaching the Gospel, but living the Gospel.

They told us how they want to put the vast tracts of land owned by the churches to productive use. I want to add how I see the municipality creating a climate conducive to the partnerships we require to meet the challenges and needs of our communities.

No sector can do it alone. We need partnerships and I want to pledge today that we will make local government partnership compliant.

An example is doing an audit of the properties we own and putting those properties to productive use. We have long decided that being landlords and rent collectors are not our core functions.

I believe we need to form partnerships with the faith-based organizations as well s the NGOs, CBOs and other bodies in our communities to follow the lead set by Melonie and her Board here today together with Johnson and Johnson.

I wish this facility God's riches blessing. I don't want to wish it to be more productive than it should be in terms of the number of women passing through here. But I wish it remains an island of spiritual and material hope in a harsh world. We need it desperately

On behalf of myself and my family, I thank you.

Sindisile Maclean
EXECUTIVE MAYOR

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