The Letterbox Project, driven by Drakenstein Municipality (DM), has seen letterboxes across the municipal area painted red.
Pursued in partnership with the Drakenstein Business Chamber, non-profit organisation Monte Christo Miqlat (MCM), Paarl Paint, who sponsored the red paint, businesspeople took time out to adopt and repaint a letterbox.
Last week the municipality held a meeting to do an overview of the project and what was achieved.
“This project is one of those small big things. It may be a small thing, but it’s a big thing to show how everyone can work together,” Seraj Johaar, Drakenstein’s Executive Director for Corporate and Planning Services, said.
Timmie Cloete, manager of DM’s Investment Area Management Department, took charge of the project. “To give just a little bit of backgroud on the initiative, the Drakenstein Business Chamber asked at one point what we were going to do about the red letterboxes in Drakenstein.
“It’s nice to know that from the beginning the passion was there as was the enthusiasm to make a difference. The project aims to enhance Drakenstein’s urban environment and evoke a sense of nostalgia and civic pride.
“Although I got a list of about 72 letterboxes in Drakenstein from the post office we could locate only 47. Of these, two letterboxes were repainted by schools, 18 by businesses and 29 by Miqlat. You’ll see the figures don’t add up; Miqlat also dealt with some cases where business owners did not complete the repainting. For instance, the business owners perhaps used just one coat of paint, and then Miqlat went along to add a second coat.”
Also at the overview meeting were Cheryl Phillips, DM Senior Manager for Economic Development and Tourism, and Johan Miller, Mayco for Economic Development, as well as representatives of the Post Office, Drakenstein Business Chambers, MCM and Paarl Paint.
According to Phillips the Investment Area Management Department was established in 2021 to take up projects such as this.
“The City Manager always talks about innovation and collaboration, and doing less with more. And the way Timmie has just approached the investment-area management and urban-management focus is, in fact, living up to what the City Manager has told us to do on innovation and collaboration. I was at the Old Mill Theatre, and with absolute joy I saw a letterbox and said ‘this is one of my colleagues’ projects’.
“I was so excited to see it. And it’s really about demonstrating when we have the same vision and have the same will and willingness, and then we can achieve so much more than working against each other. So, thank you very much to all the organisations for this.”
After the meeting all stakeholders visited one of the letterboxes, which was repainted, on the corner of Breda and Du Toit Street.
