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31 July 2008

The Department of Social Development on behalf of the Free State Province is organising the Provincial Community Builder of the Year Awards 2008 event in association with the Sowetan, Old Mutual, and the SABC, whilst Makwetla and Associates are serving as the National Project Management Facilitator mainly to ensure that the necessary support and guidance is given to provinces as they host the provincial finals of the awards ceremony which will culminate in the National event to be held in September of 2008.

The Community Builder of the Year 2008 will be held on Thursday, 7 August 2008 at the De Stijl Resort, near Gariep Dam in the Xhariep District under the theme “Honouring South Africa’s Community Development”. The Premier of the province is the patron of the awards ceremony which celebrates the generosity of the human spirit by way of recognising excellence in community development driven by members of the community. The Department of Social Development has worked closely with the municipalities across the length and breadth of the province in ensuring that members of the community involved in community development initiatives take the opportunity to showcase their work by entering this prestigious awards ceremony with the prospect of being crowned South Africa’s Community Builder of the Year.

The Free State panellists were nominated from the five districts as part of the processes of short listing of the entrants from 81 projects which were nominated as entrants for the awards ceremony. The short listing of projects that meet the required criteria has been done and 12 projects throughout the districts have been re-visited by the departmental task team and the panellists to finalise the process. A schedule for the visits to the projects by the panellists to see, verify as well as conduct interviews was finalised and the following towns were visited:

* Qwaqwa (2 projects)
* Winburg
* Thaba Nchu
* Botshabelo
* Bloemfontein
* Smithfield
* Springfontein
* Bethulie
* Wepener
* Welkom
* Oranjeville

The process has gained momentum and is proving to be a stakeholder involved process with good co-operative governance and intergovernmental arrangements helping to reach the intended participants which are social and economic entrepreneurs at the local level. These milestones are a confidence booster to the capacity of the province to successfully host a memorable spectacle.

In ensuring that the event is well managed the MEC and the department assigned a dedicated team to work on the successful hosting of the event. The province is heading for a momentous event and all are urged to brace themselves for a memorable spectacle. Let us watch the space for more updates leading up to the big day when the Honourable Premier and MEC for Social Development confer the honour of the most outstanding social and economic entrepreneur of the province as the Provincial Community Builder of the Year, who will also serve as the Provincial Ambassador in the National Community Builder of the Year Awards 2008.

For further enquiries please email:
Mr Mondli Mvambi
E-mail: mondli@socdev.fs.gov.za

Issued by: Department of Social Development, Free State Provincial Government
31 July 2008