Almost two years after arriving in Cape Town, nine containers of clothes donated by Taiwan are finally ready to be given to the needy, mayor Helen Zille said on Monday.
Thanking the Taiwanese government for its generosity, Zille said the shipping containers will be kept in storage by the city’s disaster-management team. They will be handed out through NGOs for disaster relief and other emergencies.
The containers of new clothes arrived in Cape Town harbour in November 2005 and were held up by unfinished paperwork and customs processes.
The clothing was brought here under an agreement between the Taiwanese government and the deputy director of the Western Cape department of cultural affairs, sports and recreation, to be distributed to eight municipalities around the Western Cape
However, an inquiry found that the deputy director did not have a mandate to sign the contract and commit his department to paying the customs fees. The consignment was subsequently abandoned.
The Taiwanese government then approached the City of Cape Town with the donation, which agreed to cover the customs duties. Zille also thanked Green Africa Shipping, which had agreed to waive more than R1-million in storage costs incurred. — Sapa