A Really Great Day

Today we headed out to the City of Mogale (pronounced Moe-hall-ee) for a meeting with several members of the City Council. They have 64 members of the city council, so we met with about 20. Many of the members were from the young ranks of the council.

We had a presentation on local government that did a wonderful job of explaining how local government works in South Africa. There were some similarities and some differences. I would say they have some advantages and we have some advantages. I don’t know that one system is better than the other, just different. Just like the City of Billings, they have several wishes that their provisional government would work better with them similar to our wish for the state government to pass laws that would benefit the city.

After our meeting, we toured city hall and the cities museum. Then we headed out to the Marepang to visit the Cradle of Humankind museum ADD LINK. Marepang means to “revisit the footsteps of your ancestors” in the African dialect that is prevalent in the region. Once the formal meeting was over, we got to visit and socialize with the young elected leaders from the Mogale city council. We had lunch with them and toured the museum with them.

That was the real highlight of the day. Getting to spend time with people like us and trying to visit, compare and contrast, ask questions, and really bond with leaders that are a reflection of our group in South Africa. There was a great dialog and exchange of ideas and the highlight of the day was getting to spend the day with a peer group from South Africa. I felt like a real connection was made and I got a real sense of South Africa from this group. I had a really great time all day discussing a vast range of issues.

Tomorrow we are at the Constitutional Court and then we fly to Durban. I’m not sure what the situation will be in Durban, so I’m not exactly sure when I’ll post next. Hopefully tomorrow, but it may be the next day.