Now that the Weskus Distrik team has found their land legs again after April’s groundbreaking Wave Maker Summit on a cruise liner, Municipal Manager David Joubert shares his impressions of the summit.
“Think tanks and planning started in 2023. It seems a long time ago but given the mammoth task of putting Wavemaker Summit together and taking it from concept to realisation, it was a
remarkable achievement.
The idea of having the summit on a cruise liner tested our governance processes and took us out of our comfort zone. But we knew that the Wavemaker Summit needed to break the mould of static on-land conferences, and it also supported the apt Wavemaker theme, and the call to delegates to ‘be the wind’ behind change. The unorthodox venue choice was made easier by the fact that it was cheaper to hold it on sea than on land.”
“I was particularly pleased that our delegates included the public sector, private sector and
academia. This led to robust conversations, sharing of insights and experience. Weskus Distrik also included a contingent of our young Interns who formed part of Dr Tesselaar’s organising team – they are our future, and they were exposed to some of South Africa’s leading experts on subjects such as ethical leadership, effective governance and best practices in local government. “The purpose of the Wavemaker Summit was to facilitate change needed to bring hope to South Africans. This does not happen overnight but when like-minded people gather as we did at the summit, it is a positive step forward”.
David Joubert
Municipal Manager
Weskus Distrik
