KCT the legitimate entity for K’litsha’s development

Mkhululi Gaula, is the chief executive officer of the Khayelitsha Community Trust.

It has become fashionable to chase after the Khayelitsha Community Trust (KCT) for all sorts reasons because KCT is the only legal development entity remaining in Khayelitsha.

All other development organisations and community Trusts who were based in Khayelitsha are now defunct or have ceased to exist.

The last one in the later years has been the Greater Khayelitsha Development Initiative (KGDI) which also vanished into thin air.

This brings us to examine the performance of KCT since there is a narrative that its office base outside of Khayelitsha compromises its ability to serve the interests of the Khayelitsha community.

It needs to be clarified that KCT is only responsible for a tiny piece of land within the Greater Khayelitsha, an area commonly referred to as the Khayelitsha CBD.

Some KCT’s milestones include the following:

All service providers at the KCT Mall – including security, cleaning, waste management, landscaping, pest control are from Khayelitsha.

KCT has facilitated direct sponsorship for young sports personalities from Khayelitsha to ply their trade internationally. A young karateka recently travelled to Japan to participate in a world championship tournament, a young soccer player recently travelled abroad to Ajax Amsterdam through funding support from KCT, a young lady from Khayelitsha won a ballet dance competition in Canada through funding assistance from KCT.

On the education front, KCT has created an enabling environment for young learners to advance their career interests. A female student from Khayelitsha recently participated in an International Debate competition in Turkey through KCT intervention and is currently one of the best performing students at UCT. Funding support has been extended to various schools in Khayelitsha including COSAT and KCT has also donated a number of computers to Khayelitsha-based high schools including Esangweni High School through partnership with private sector IT companies. It can also be added that many students from the Khayelitsha campus of the False Bay College have been seconded to KCT for internship purposes which is a very crucial step towards exposing learners to the real world of work or corporate environment.