A promise made is a promise kept and delivered

- by Ndlelantle Pinyana

20 March 2009

Cutting of the ribbon by the Eastern Cape Premier Mr Mbulelo Sogoni	Unveiling of the plaque by the Eastern Cape Premier Mbulelo Sogoni

The concept of Thusong service centres has finally captured the moment in a big way in the Province of the Eastern Cape. The Premier of the Eastern Cape, Honorable Mbulelo Sogoni has hit the ground running in delivering on the promise he made during the State of the Province address earlier this year. The 20 March 2009, ushered in a new era to the small community of Burgersdorp in Gariep Local Municipality at Ukhahlamba District when the Premier launched the first Thusong Service Centre in seven years.

It has been a long, torrid and a winding route for the Province as the last Thusong Service Centre to be launched was Centane Thusong Service centre, at Amathole District back in 2002. If this Thusong service centre vibe is anything to go by, the Province is set to be among those set to meet the target of one centre per Local Municipality by 2014, a target directly linked to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of halving unemployment and eradicating poverty. 

Sandwiched between two small farming towns of Steynsburg and Jamestown, the Burgersdorp Thusong Service Center launch brought a lot of hope, energy and excitement to the impoverished villagers who most of them live below the poverty line. The centre is poised to service a multi cultural and multi lingual population of 31308 (2005 statistics). This excellent initiative started two years ago after a lot of advocacy work by Eastern Cape Provincial Office for GCIS, the office of the Premier and the Gariep Local Municipality. The Gariep Local Municipality as part of its Local Economic Development strategy identified a former old prison in Burgersdorp as a site to be revamped and converted into a Thusong Service Centre.