OUDTSHOORN NEWS - The administrator of Oudtshoorn, Kam Chetty has appealed to spiritual leaders to assist in the recovery of Oudtshoorn Municipality and to collectively address the problems of the Greater Oudtshoorn.
"Your presence gives us hope and the strength we require – we previously had administrators in this town, with marginal changes - this means there was something missing in the past interventions," Mr. Chetty told the approximately 50 church leaders in a meeting held on 28 April at the Toekomsrus Community Hall.
Chetty said that, "all of us are servants and instruments of God and all the knowledge, strategies and technologies are not going to succeed, unless we acknowledge the supremacy of God."
"We find ourselves today in a deep-seated crisis. We are facing severe financial paralysis, massive infrastructure deficits, backlogs, failure in service delivery, and poor governance. The crisis that we find ourselves in prohibits growth in our town, also denying the communities what is rightfully theirs, particularly the impoverished. We call on you, with no favours to any groups, to assist with rebuilding the Greater Oudtshoorn. as God intended, to be this beautiful, prosperous and peaceful town."
He appealed to the leaders to assist in building a culture of integrity and mutual respect, caring and selfless service, Ubuntu and to reduce the obsession with materialism.
Church leaders were afforded an opportunity to discuss a way forward with their involvement in the intervention process. The ministers all agreed to support the municipality and draw up a program of action to assist the town.
One of the attendees of the meeting, Urshulla Slabbert, said: "As Christians, we'll have to join hands and help the municipality, let's organise a prayer day for Oudtshoorn, we need God in town."
Andrew Wagener said: "The town needs spi-ritual leaders to lead. We must forget about the past, where we stay, our backgrounds, churches. This afternoon is a historical moment."
Fortuin Staalmeester proposed a prayer in the municipality once a week.
Pastor Hanse said: "This is an answer to our prayers; we requested this kind of intervention two years ago from the municipality but to no avail.
Oudtshoorn is now claiming its freedom. Thank you Mr. Chetty."
It was decided at the meeting that weekly prayers will be held on Wednesdays at 18:00 at the banquet hall in the civic centre, as from 11 May. Anyone is welcome to attend the prayer meetings.
The next meeting of the administrator and religious leaders will take place on Thursday 19 May. All church leaders including Dysselsdorp and De Rust are requested to attend the next meeting.
A committee to organise the big prayer event for Oudtshoorn will be elected at this meeting.
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