SOUTH AFRICAN AMBASSADOR LAUDS TAMALE RESIDENTS (Page 53)

Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Tamale

THE South African Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Rapu Molekane, has described the Tamale Stadium as very impressive. He has also commended the people of the metropolis for the warm reception extended to his national team, the Bafana Bafana, who were one of the four teams hosted in the metropolis for the Ghana 2008 tournament.
As a show of gratitude to the people, the ambassador has promised to link up the metropolis to a city in his country to establish a sister-city relationship for the mutual benefit of the peoples of the two cities.
‘‘Even though I am left with barely six months to end my tenure in Ghana, I am going to take this initiative as a personal project to boost the social and economic ties between Ghana and South Africa,” Mr Molekane promised.
The ambassador gave the commendation when he presented a number of footballs and other sporting items to 20 selected primary and junior high schools in Tamale last week.
According to the ambassador, some South Africans who were in the metropolis for the games had also spotted some tourist and business potential in the area and had expressed their willingness to take advantage of the abundant opportunities to invest.
He further revealed that feasibility studies on the cultivation of sugar cane in Tamale had already been completed and that there were plans by his country in the near future to establish sugar plantations in the metropolis.
The Tamale Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director, Alhaji Mohammed Adam Baba, underscored the benefits that could accrue from the establishment of such a sister-city relationship between the cities and expressed the readiness of the TAMA for such an initiative.
He said the metropolis was the beehive of business and commerce in the northern sector and that its strategic location made it a good attraction for investment.
Alhaji Baba said Information and Communications Technology (ICT), banking and mango plantations were some of the areas that had opportunities for rapid growth.
He said with the vast experience of TAMA in sister-city relationships, being the first city in Ghana to establish such a relationship, he was hopeful that the people would benefit significantly from the initiative.