Knysna municipal manager Lauren Waring said that the role of the council was to create an environment conducive for the development of sport and to strengthen the sports structures at local government level.
"The establishment of this platform is a bid to make sport in Knysna more inclusive and it is hoped that its strategies will ultimately translate into viable programmes, thus creating a vibrant and sustainable sports brand for Knysna", added Ms Waring.
The process to establish the Sport Council started in February this year with the selection of ward-based sport forums in all the wards of the municipal area. An interim working group was elected to work on a draft constitution under the leadership of Eden Sport Council president, Goliath Munro.
In a landmark meeting on Tuesday, May 27, the representatives elected the first Sport Council for the greater Knysna area. The council also boasts being the first council within the Western Cape to elect five female representatives to its executive committee. The council members are: Luleka Kwitshane (chairperson), Neil Louw (vice-chairperson), Sarie Exton (secetary), Uschi Schultz (treasurer), Picca de Bruyn (sport for the disabled), and additional members Lorenzo Lorenzo van Aswegen, Debra Hyde, Vumile Yonzi and Faizel Bambi.
The different wards had 30 representatives and each ward had two representatives with voting rights.
Waring concluded that the future of sport in Knysna was a collective action and that she trusted that the work of the Sport Council will transform the sporting environment to benefit all communities of the greater Knysna municipal area.
Knysna Municipality recently established a new Sport Council for the town. In fron (from left) are Lorenzo van Aswegen (member), Neil Louw (vice-chairperson), Luleka Kwitshane (chairperson), Sarie Exton (secretary), Uschi Schultz (treasurer) and Debra Hyde (member). In the back are Faizel Bambie (member), Vumile Yonzi (member), Virgil Kortje (Knysna Municipality), Dawid Adonis (director: Community Services), Keith Harker (Knysna Municipality), Amanda Stripp (Eden Sport Council), Picca de Bruyn (sport for the disabled) and Richard Meyer (Knysna Municipality).
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