Town Planning

Kamekho Town Planners - 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 has a tertiary qualification in Town & Regional Planning. Charlotte is a registered Town & Regional Planner in terms of the Act for Regional & Town Planners, and has been working in this field for the past 21 years. Charlotte is backed by Mr Justice Khosa, having a B (Urban & Regional Planning) degree from UniVen with six years experience, as well as Mr Rowan Albertyn, holding a masters degree in Town & Regional Planning and a registered Town & Regional planner, and Mr Isaiah Madisha, also a B (Urban & Regional Planning) graduate from Univen. The firm is trading under the name of “Kamekho Town Planners”, being a close corporation of which Charlotte van der Merwe and Justice Khosa are the members. Previously, the firm traded under the name “Merwe Kanyane Town Planners” of which Charlotte and Mr Isaac Kanyane were the members. The CC registration number is 2003/031026/23. The VAT number is 4 580209288.

The firm is in operation for 5 years, and has already established itself as a consulting Town & Regional Planning firm of note in the Limpopo Province. Being a small firm, the members are in the position to minimize their over-heads and offer their clients a good end-product at reasonable cost. Although emerging, they have used the opportunity to prove their 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, i.e. for surveys, we attempt using the unemployed sector of that community, making an effort to transfer skills meaningfully.