Overstrand Junior Town Council

At the request of the Overstrand Municipality, Enlighten has established and manages the Junior Town Council.  There are three aspects to this: (a) the educational aspect through which council members learn how local government works (b) public appearances and (c) delivery of projects which will permanently benefit their own communities.  This is a fully integrated project in terms of race, gender and geographical areas of the Overstrand.

2007 – 2008 Overstrand Junior Town Council Thirty learners serve on the new junior council, of which seven, representing different decentralized areas, were elected by themselves to an executive committee. Three of these executive committee members also serve in the offices of Junior Mayor, Junior Deputy Mayor and Junior Speaker.

The Junior Mayor for the 4th term was Ms Babalwa Mbunyusa, also the representative for Zwelihle.  Stevann Poole, representative for Mount Pleasant, was deputy junior mayor, and Hawston representative Lulu Duke, is the junior Speaker. The representative for Hangklip-Kleinmond in the executive committee was Leandri de Azevedo, for Gansbaai Bennie Swart, for Stanford Bernard Aries and for Hermanus Laura Abel. The rest of the junior council comprised of Roeline Enslin, Anja Langenhoven, Kristi Kriel, Curt Wilkenson, Hanje Miller, Brigitte Götz, Monette Duncker and Berna Jacobs, all from the Hermanus High School representing areas such as Hermanus, Kleinmond, Gansbaai and Hawston; Nicole April, Wesley Davids, Loleaté Dunston, Cohen Claasen, Venita Mars, all from Hawston Secondary School representing areas such as Hawston, Mount Pleasant and Stanford; Tenbilizwe Ngiki, Simbongile Liwani, Sibusiso Makunga, Mike Magele, Nontlanhla Nyanniso, Lusanda Tutu, Sibusiso Nteyiya and Tukile Gqoboka, all from Qhayiya Secondary School representing areas such as Zwelihle and Masakhane, and lastly Adelain Nell from the Gansbaai Primary School.

The project is facilitated for the municipality by the Enlighten Education Trust. Project Manager Theo de Wet calls on school principles to give junior councillors the same exposure as student representative councillors at the various high schools. He emphasises that these young leaders are not mini aduts, but school going leaders in the making whose motto is “we learn as we lead”. De Wet highlighted the three focus areas of the project, namely in-service training, public appearances and service delivery.

In 2009 – 2010 the Junior Town Council enter their 6th cycle.

Empowerment Project

The Empowerment Project involved a small, selected group of learners with the potential to lead and to achieve.  The aim was to expose these learners to a wider world-view, to experiences they would not otherwise have had, and to provide academic support where needed.

Post School Youth

Enlighten supports and assists post-school youth with leadership training, youth camps and capacity-building so that they may take up leadership roles within their communities.

Post School Vocational Training

In Hermanus, the hospitality and construction industries have been identified as critically requiring skilled employees.  This project aims to train 40 youth for both hospitality and construction.  Apart from the technical training, trainees will be given courses in English for will include, life-skills, workplace ethics, personal presentation, etc. The construction skills trainees will do their on site training on the Enlighten Building.

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