Deputy Mayor Andrew Arnolds, Denise Robinson MP, Councillors, Ronel Shuttleworth, distinguished guests.

It is indeed a great privilege and a great pleasure to speak to you this evening.

It is also humbling.

Having unveiled a 2006 commemorative plaque, which I trust others will look back on in another 200 years time, I now feel firmly embedded in history!

Tonight we celebrate the legacy of Durbanville, and what it means to us in the present.

We must acknowledge the contribution that this community has made, and continues to make, as a part of Cape Town.

It is a community that has weathered the centuries with the rest of our great city.

It has felt the hardships of economic depression and apartheid.

And it has tasted the benefits of our new democracy and economic growth.

It has gone from being a stop off and water point for passing travellers, to a town with over 25 000 residents.

It has seen rapid industrial growth and change all around, yet it has retained its quiet character.

Today Durbanville stands as a blend of town and country, of vineyards, of farms and wide streets.

It is home to members of our central city’s workforce, but also members of our agricultural community.

Every day, thousands of its people join the ranks of commuters to the offices and industries of Cape Town or other centres.

Every day these people face the challenge of helping to turn the wheels of our CBD.

Their efforts must never be overlooked.

Meanwhile the farming community is an old and well established one in Durbanville, and one of the oldest in Cape Town.

Farming is in the blood and the soil of the Cape, and it must remain so.

We are very lucky to have fine farms producing food of the highest quality only a short distance from the city centre.

Durbanville produces some of our major crops and export goods such as wheat, grapes, wine and dairy.

Today the farmers serve the City well, and we shall do all we can to serve the farmers.

Together with the workers, the professionals and the families of Durbanville, they make up an important part of our City’s economic backbone.

But yours is also a town which adds to our collective wealth in other ways.

Durbanville contains and shelters some of the last remnants of the endangered Rynosterveld ecosystem.

While the fynbos kingdom is being lost to development in many parts of our city, here it is preserved for the well-being of the greater Cape Town biosphere.

Like the open and peaceful farmlands, we must do everything we can to protect this asset.

We must look to the future and remember that our decisions now will determine what our children have to live with in the years ahead.

This remains equally true for the community life of Durbanville.

The people of your diverse town come from all walks of life, and they add much to Cape Town’s cultural wealth.

This is a place of unique events and traditions, but many of them risk being forgotten in our modern age.

I have just had the pleasure of enjoying one such tradition, together with the Deputy Mayor, when I was drawn here in a coach, in memory of the coach works that gave birth to your town two centuries ago.

I hope that the bicentennial celebrations, including the parade this Saturday, will stimulate you, the residents, to reflect on what you have inherited.

I was happy to learn that there are several initiatives which are designed to keep the cultural memory of this town alive.

The exhibition of memorabilia in the Rust en Vrede Cultural Centre, for example, contains photographs, antiques, documents, and other historical material.

The Durbanville Cultural Society houses the only Clay Museum in the country.

It boasts an outstanding collection that is still growing.

And a Heritage Association has been started by MP Denise Robinson and other residents.

This association aims to promote greater interest in this town’s history and to lobby for the preservation of its historical assets.

Turning to the present, we can also celebrate some new developments that will help to take this community forward.

I was particularly excited to learn of the donation of R12 million from Ronel Shuttleworth, which I am told will be used for local library facilities.

This is a valuable contribution toward the continued social development of the town, especially for less privileged areas such as Versantekraal.

And it comes at a time when libraries across Cape Town are struggling to stay open due to a lack of funds.

We are truly grateful for this generous assistance to our people.

There are, of course, many other serious challenges facing Durbanville.

We have seen a sharp rise in crime in this area, much like the rest of the city.

We have seen problems with basic infrastructure maintenance.

And we have seen major traffic congestion build up on the main routes to the city bowl, while public transport has been far from adequate.

I also know that there has been some unhappiness about the governance of this town.

First Durbanville was absorbed into the greater Tygerberg Council in the late 1990s, and then in 2001 Cape Town became further centralized under the Unicity.

Many have said that this has taken governance away from the people. Others have warned against this town losing its uniqueness.

We have listened to your concerns, and we have made it our priority to re-empower sub-councils, and to bring the decisions that affect Durbanville back to the people who live here.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our sub-council Chair, Claude Ipser, for his hard work in this regard. I am sure he and the rest of the council will bring sound leadership to the region.

To sum up, I would like to say to you that we appreciate what this community adds to our City.

We celebrate with you on this special day.

But while we celebrate, we are also mindful that there is much to be done to ensure that this town has a healthy future.

On behalf of the City of Cape Town, I give you my undertaking that we will do everything in our power to serve your community, so that it can continue to prosper into the next century.

I thank you.