ICLEI Africa News

Helen Zille, Executive Mayor of Cape Town, South Africa, has been awarded the 2008 World Mayor Prize by global local government think-tank City Mayors. The competition, the only one of its kind, has run for the past 18 months. It started with a call for nominations by the public, which led to 820 mayors being nominated. A shortlist of 50 was selected from this total, which was later reduced to 11, and then to five. Mayor Zille said: “It is a great honour to have been awarded the World Mayor award. It is a tribute to the teams, in the Mayor’s office, the city officials, my caucus colleagues, the team in parliament and my family, who work tirelessly to support me in everything I do. It is a great incentive for us to keep working to build democracy in South Africa with opportunities for all.”

Cape Town is an ICLEI Member, the host city for the ICLEI Africa Secretariat, and also home to the international ICLEI Local Action for Biodiversity Programme (LAB). Another two mayors from Africa were part of the shortlisted 50 finalists, being Amos Masondo (Johannesburg, South Africa) and Omar El Bahraoui (Rabat, Morocco). Mayor Amos Masondo has served as a former ICLEI President, whilst the City of Johannesburg is also an ICLEI Member.

Questions posed to mayors
Questions from an international audience were posed to mayors participating in World Mayor 2008. One of the questions put to Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille was from Jeremy B. of Oklahoma City, USA. In summary, Jeremy asked the mayor what the long-term plans were to keep Cape Town the ‘jewel’ that it is and yet a place of opportunity for those seeking a better life. In summary, Zille responded: “Our IDP [Integrated Development Plan] recognises that Cape Town’s natural resources are our biggest economic asset. We also recognise how demographic pressures, from a variety of sources, threaten these assets. It is a particular challenge to secure land for human settlement in a region that has the world’s richest, and most threatened biodiversity. This means that we have to find ways of increasing densities in areas designated for development, while carefully preserving other areas.”

Zille further replied: “Finally, we are also actively involved in international programmes and projects, which help us build sustainable partnerships because we realise that we cannot achieve our objectives alone as we seek to balance conservation and development. An example of this is the Local Action for Biodiversity (LAB) project, which Cape Town initiated in 2006 at the ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability World Congress that was held in our city. This is now a flourishing international programme drawing together 21 cities from all continents to enhance biodiversity at local government and city level. Perhaps Oklahoma City would like to consider joining the LAB initiative and become part of our global quest to sustain and enhance biodiversity within cities?”

About the World Mayor project
The aim of the international World Mayor project, which was launched by the urban affairs think-tank City Mayors in January 2004, is to raise the profile of mayors worldwide by honouring those who have served their communities well and have made significant contributions to cities nationally and internationally. Participants in the competition are invited to nominate and vote for city leaders who excel in qualities such as leadership and vision, management abilities, social and economic awareness, ability to provide security and to protect the environment as well as the will and ability to foster good relations between communities from different cultural, racial and social backgrounds.

Results
The top 11 mayors of World Mayor 2008:

1. Helen Zille, Mayor of Cape Town, South Africa
2. Elmar Ledergerber, Mayor of Zurich, Switzerland
3. Leopoldo Eduardo López, Mayor of Chacao, Venezuela
4. Phil Gordon, Mayor of Phoenix, USA
5. Ulrich Maly, Mayor of Nuremberg, Germany
6. Jaime Nebot, Mayor of Guayaquil, Ecuador
7. Marides Fernando, Mayor of Marikina City, Philippines
8. Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, Mayor of Tehran, Iran
9. Göran Johansson, Mayor of Gothenburg, Sweden
10. Salvador Gandara, Mayor of Villa Nueva, Guatemala
11. José Fogaça, Mayor of Porto Alegre, Brazil

Previous winners
Previous winners were Edi Rama, Mayor of Tirana (2004), Dora Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens (2005) and John So, Mayor of Melbourne (2006). The latter two cities are ICLEI Members and the City of Melbourne is also an ICLEI host city for the ICLEI Oceania Office.

More information
World Mayor website
Cape Town Mayor’s profile
Johannesburg Mayor’s profile