MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICHARDT) - "You have a beautiful infrastructure which must be protected," commented the leader of a Nigerian government delegation who visited Makhado Municipality on a fact-finding mission on June 3.

Members of the Kwara States House of Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria visited the area to explore areas of cooperation in agriculture, tourism, exchange of personnel and expertise and other areas of endeavour.

"I find that people here are determined to succeed and leave the past behind them and go forward as one. People are warm, hospitable and ready to assist," said Abdulwahab Omothose Kayode, majority leader of the Kwara States House of Assembly.

The Nigerian government delegation, which was in South Africa at the government’s invitation, was invited to the Makhado Municipality by Trade and Investment Limpopo, a structure active in introducing investment possibilities to foreign investors and assisting them in all aspects of facilitating their local projects. The function at the Soutpansberg Tourism Information Centre was attended by the Nigerian delegation, the mayor, Cllr Rhulani Nkuzana, councillors and officials from the Makhado Municipality, officials from the Office of the Premier and Mr IA Imam, Nigeria High Commissioner from Pretoria.

In his welcoming address, Cllr Nkuzana said that South Africa and Nigeria are the superpowers in Africa. Cllr Nkuzana also referred to the Makhado Municipality as being the fruit basket of Africa. The Nigerian delegation obtained firsthand experience during a presentation and display of fruit juices by Mr D Gilbert. To acquaint themselves with local industries, the delegation had an opportunity to visit Limpopo Dairy and Pennells Tanks.

In his presentation, the municipal manager, Mr Reuben Rambado, explained the organizational structure of the Makhado Municipality which has an area of jurisdiction of 16 000 km2 and comprises 265 villages and 6 formal towns with a population of around 600 000 in more than 100 000 households.

Mr Kayode said that they would consider all that they have seen when they get back. They envisage future visits and said: "We expect Makhado Municipality to come and visit us. We are your big brother in Africa. Nigeria has 140 million people. We can share expertise in many areas."

The keywords mutual cooperation reminded of the words of Mr Deng Bao-Quan, the Administrative Vice-Mayor of DanDong City in China during the stone-laying ceremony of the colour steel factory in the local industrial area. The steel factory, a R100 million project, was the outcome of a twinning agreement between the Makhado Municipality and the city of DanDong in Liaoning Province of the Republic of China. The construction of the steel factory has not yet commenced. A spokesperson from the municipality this week indicated that the third set of the very complicated construction plans had been submitted. By the end of June the Chinese delegation would probably return with their engineers and software programmers to make the last necessary changes to the plans.

Another twinning agreement is underway between Gwanda in Zimbabwe and the Makhado Municipality. A possible joint venture in the refining and mining of gold could be the outcome, but discussions by task teams are still in a preliminary phase. Administrative discussions took place in December last year.

Administrative discussions are also on the table with a city in Kenya. The policy of the municipality is to establish administrative ties first, so that economic investments and benefits of cooperation might follow at a later stage.