Town Planning

Kamekho Consulting - Company Mission and Background

COMPANY MISSION:

The firm's mission is to transfer skills and knowledge, as well as to build capacity of officials in the property and town planning related sections of local and district municipalities, as well as government departments, by assisting in certain priority projects in these sections. In this regard, the following services may be rendered:

• To assist in the evaluation of town planning related applications and policies, and to make recommendations in this regard.
• To assist in the evaluation of existing and new policy documents, town planning layouts and forward planning issues.
• To assist in the implementation of Integrated Development Plans.
• Assistance and guidance can be given in projects where inhouse development and compilation of policies, studies, re-settlement of villages, new township establishment, etc. need to be undertaken.
• The compilation and implementation of land tenure upgrading business plans and projects.

BACKGROUND:

The firm is headed by Charlotte van der Merwe who holds a tertiary qualification in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Pretoria (1988). Charlotte is a registered Professional Planner (number A/823/1995) in terms of the Act for Town and Regional Planners, and has been working in this field for the past 21 years. Charlotte is backed by a team of experienced town planners and an environmental practitioner.

The firm is trading under the name of "Kamekho Consulting", being a close corporation of which Charlotte van der Merwe is the only member. Previously, the firm traded under the name "Kamekho Town Planners" of which Charlotte and Mr Justice Khosa were the members. The need for a new CC became evident after Mr Khosa's resignation. The CC registration number is 2010/103040/23. Registration for VAT will only be undertaken once the turnover exceeds the prescribed limit.

The current CC is newly established, but Charlotte van der Merwe has already established herself as a consulting Professional Planner of note in the Limpopo Province since 1995. Being a small firm, she is in the position to minimize her overheads and offer her clients a good end-product at reasonable cost. Although emerging, she has used the opportunity to prove her affirmative action policy on a large scale, consisting of the following practical measures:

• To always offer equal opportunities to all employees or employees-to-be irrespective of race, colour, gender or creed.
• In contracting out work to other professionals, we prefer to appoint other emerging firms or firms having a clear apolitical policy.
• When involved in community based projects, we strive towards job creation and creating opportunities for training.
• In using temporary workers for short-terms projects, ie for surveys, we attempt using the unemployed sector of that community, making an effort to transfer skills meaningfully.