Chamber welcomes Dan Plato as the City's Mayor

19 September 2018

THE Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry has welcomed the nomination of Mr Dan Plato as the City’s new Executive Mayor.

“He is well respected and he has more than 20 years of experience in local government both as an official and as a leader,” said Ms Janine Myburgh, President of the Chamber. “We can now look forward to a calmer and more productive management of the City with fewer storms and distraction. Also important is that he has worked well with the Deputy Mayor, Mr Ian Nielson.”

She said Mayor Plato had done the job before and his experience in many areas of the City’s administration made him the most knowledgeable “new” mayor for many years. In addition, his service in the provincial cabinet had equipped him well to deal with the new challenges the City faced.

“We need some major repair work to our image after the recent drought. We need to rebuild the film industry and get tourism back onto a growth path.”

Ms Myburgh said the City and the Province had worked together well to grow the local economy and said he was ideally placed to continue this work. “The Chamber congratulates him and I would like to assure him that he has the full support of the Chamber and business for this important work.”

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Alan Winde as the DA's candidate for premiership is a positive move for business

THE nomination of Mr Alan Winde as the DA’s candidate for the premiership of the Western Cape, is a positive move for business and the local economy, says the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“What we like about Winde is that he has stayed clear of the political scraps and concentrated on creating economic opportunities and jobs and that is what we need,” said Ms Janine Myburgh, President of the Chamber.

He was also remarkable for his “open door” evenings in which he welcomed entrepreneurs and business people from all sectors of the economy. “He is one of those rare politicians who spends more time listening to people than making speeches.”

Ms Myburgh said his approach was to enable business and to remove the obstacles to growth such as unnecessary red tape.

“This policy, which was endorsed by the whole provincial cabinet, is one of the reasons why the Western Cape has performed better than other provinces and why our unemployment rate is significantly below the National unemployment rate.”

She said that technology was driving so many changes so fast that new approaches were required to anticipate problems and take early advantage of the opportunities opening up. “Old style politicians are not very good at this so we need a new approach and Mr Winde may be the person to provide the necessary leadership. If he is able to continue and expand business friendly policies he can count on the full support of the Chamber,” Ms Myburgh said.

Issued by Dean Le Grange, Media and Digital Coordinator, 19 September 2018