Khayelitsha Benefits From R120m Urban Upgrading Programme

Residents of Harare in Khayelitsha celebrated the opening of two new community buildings, a park and a sports complex

Executive Mayor Dan Plato and the Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, attended the proceedings.

This is the first stage of a R120 million, five-year, programme, “Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU)”, which is jointly funded by the City of Cape Town, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation and Development and the German Development Bank (KfW).

Executive Mayor Plato said: “This wonderful achievement is part of the VPUU programme – an initiative that helps the people of Khayelitsha to take control of their environment and to live free and dignified lives.

“…this initiative proves that you the community have the power to take charge of your lives and to create a safer and better living environment for all the residents of South Africa’s third largest township.” The VPUU programme will create four “safe node areas” in the Khayelitsha suburbs of Harare, Kuyasa, Site C/TR section and Site B. Each node will cater for about 50 000 people.

Isabel Huber, Senior Project Manager, KfW-Frankfurt (German Development Bank), said: “Compared to the many projects that I have observed elsewhere in Africa and the world, VPUU is an outstanding and unique example of successful collaboration between a local government and the residents of an area – such as Khayelitsha.

“We would like to congratulate all stakeholders on this successful cooperation. I express my strong hope that you will achieve sustainability in this endeavour and assume full ownership and responsibility of these new facilities and the VPUU-concept. If this can be turned into reality, the money made available by the German taxpayers for the implementation of VPUU will have been well invested – and we will all be winners!”

The following facilities were opened:

The Peace Park Community building The Ncomu Road Community building The Ncomu Road Urban Park The Kwamfundo School Sports Complex

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