Linton Rensburg's blog

The City of Cape Town has doubled its financial contribution to the Cape Town Partnership over the next three years. This means the City will contribute R18 million over the next three years – an increase of more than 50%. This year was also the first time that the City has entered into a three year financial contract with the Partnership – opposed to the normal one-year contract since inception in 1999.

It is true that around the world today, policy makers and businesses are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of the cities and regions to the economic development of nations. Moreover during our interaction with various businesses and public sector leaders during the period under review it became increasingly clear that there is general goodwill towards ACT, but also a recognition that Accelerate Cape Town could be that vehicle that will help big businesses and government leaders to help shape and form a common 2030 Vision, in identifying key levers of change and in turning great ideas into tangible projects.

It was great to see the countrywide celebrations marking 1000 days to go before the 2010 World Cup kicks off in South Africa. I am not one for celebrations of this nature and would rather prefer if all our energies and resources be directed at implementation; making sure that we do all that is necessary to get us ready for 2010. However I could not help notice the few participants in these celebrations, not even to mention the demographic make up of those that participated.

I listened with great amusement at the comments made with regard to Monday's closure of the N2 over protests around the N2 Gateway Housing Project. I am a great proponent of continuous dialogue whenever community development is at stake. However the question that has always been challenging for me is how far you actually need to take consultations. Government leaders and the N2 Gateway Housing Project Developers appears to have reached that point where they feel that those opposed to the project will do anything to have it delayed.

Around the world today, policy makers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of cities and regions to the economic development of nations. While we’ve never been more global, cities and regions must have the right ingredient to make things happen – a critical mass of creative people interacting on a face-to-face level.

Accelerate Cape Town will provide this platform to shape the future of the Cape towards becoming a global capital of Creativity and Innovation.