Delegation Visits

Cape Town Delegation (September 2024)

Eddie Andrews (Deputy Mayor), Rob McGaffin (Director of Spatial Planning and Environment), Denver van Schalkwyk (International Relations Manager) and his assistant Boitshoko Grace Matlhakoane were guests in Aachen from 19 – 21.09.2024.

The visit began on Thursday morning with a visit of the “Digital Church”. This was followed by a short presentation on the history of the Digital Hub, the start-ups based there and the Eco Hub, as well as talks on cooperation between business and civil society and the general work of the partnership association. The afternoon of the first day was dedicated to the exchange with Aachen University of Applied Sciences, where topics from science and business were discussed. Particular attention was paid to the activities of AGIT, the City of Aachen’s economic development agency and the companies Voltfang and Everwave.

On Friday morning, Lord Mayor Sibylle Keupen welcomed the delegation to the town hall. The “100 climate-neutral cities” project and the historical district of Büchel were explicitly presented, followed by a short tour of the historical city centre.

At lunchtime, the delegation moved on to Heinrich Heine Comprehensive School in Laurensberg. The school presented its partnership projects with Soneike High School, in particular the school garden, the shack that had just been built in the inner courtyard and the art projects on sustainability topics. This was followed by a feedback and planning session.

Here you can download the overview report of the 2024 delegation visit:

Report Cape Town Delegation 2024 (PDF)

Aachen Delegation (March 2019)

The Lord Mayor of Aachen, Marcel Philipp, led a 22-person delegation of politicians, academics, civil society representatives and business leaders on an exchange to Cape Town, funded by Engagement Global. The aim of the delegation visit was to foster future-oriented cooperation in the Cape Town-Aachen Partnership through the involvement of representatives from business, academia, civil society and government. In line with the overarching goal of the Partnership, the exchange focused on building renewed networks and capacity to collaborate and continue to promote local sustainable development in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The delegation visit was defined as a political success as all the participants were overwhelmed by their experiences and the passion of the individuals involved in the programme. New relationships were fostered during both the formal and informal programme sessions. A number of key action points and follow-up exchanges were raised during the week around the themes of mobility, arts and culture, business, politics and administration, environment, waste, education and science.

In order to take the Partnership to a new level of collaboration, communication and coordination, it is recommended that capacity be designated or resourced in Cape Town and Aachen. Mandate and capacity is required in the short- and long-term in order to manage the Partnership and support the key action points and proposals going forward. This will also assist the governing structure of the Partnership to work more effectively.

Here you can download the overview report of the 2019 delegation visit:

Report Aachen Delegation 2019 (PDF)

Aachen Delegation (October 2011)

In 2001, four years after the last time an Aachen delegation had visited Cape Town another delegation with politicians, NGO-members and municipality officials came to Cape Town. As before (in 2007) all travel costs were paid privately by the delegates.

The most important aim was to have an evaluation workshop together with all the partners in Cape Town and to prepare the new Memorandum of Agreement, which was to be signed in 2012. During the workshop the partners could also establish a 5-year-plan for project implementation.

Cape Town Delegation (June 2010) & Faces of a Partnership (July 2010)

Counsellor Marian Nieuwoudt, Osman Asmal (Head of the Department of Environmental Resource Management) and Darryl Colenbrander visited Aachen after an international conference in Bonn and were welcomed and shown around by Gisela Nacken (Head of the Department of Environment) and the Lord Mayor Marcel Philipp.

Because of the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the Partnership and the opening ceremony of the exhibition „Faces of a Partnership” in the old Crowning Hall in the Town Hall of Aachen Osman Asman and his wife, William Williams (Selfhelp Manenberg) and Grace Stead (former coordinator of the partnership) visited Aachen in July.

Aachen Delegation (November 2007)

The second delegation from Aachen visited Cape Town in November 2007. The aim of this visit was to intensify the partnership, to develop new projects and to sign the new Memorandum of Agreement, which happened during a very pleasant ceremony in the Castle of Good Hope.

Cape Town Delegation (June 2004)

In December 2003 the City of Cape Town endorsed the signing of the revised MoU and selected Councillor Themba Sikhutshwa, executive councillor for Planning and Environment, to be the patron of the Partnership, along with Sabine Verheyen, (Member of European Parliment ). It was agreed that the MoU be signed in Aachen in June 2004.

A delegation from Cape Town attended the International Conference on Renewable Energy in Bonn and this opportunity was used to promote the Partnership with a focus on energy issues. The delegates from Cape Town were sponsored by a German Governmental Organisation to attend the signing ceremony of the MoU in Aachen and also have some workshops and site visits promoting renewable energy in Aachen.

Aachen Delegation (March 2003)

After numerous visitors from Cape Town to Aachen, the Aachen partners decided to have a high level delegation visit in March 2003. Most of the delegates paid for their travel expenses privately, only the flights of the NGO-members were sponsored by a German Governmental Organisation. The aim of this visit was initially to sign the revised MoU. This was unfortunately not possible, because of the transmission within the Cape Town administration; however a letter of intent was signed. The visit was nevertheless very worthwhile and provided a lot of insight for the Germans into the daily lives of the South Africans.