Mayoral Candidate for the Overstrand

Land Party’s Mayoral candidate for the Overstrand is community activist, Vanessa Swanepoel. Vanessa has lived in Hermanus for over 20 years. She has always been a community-oriented person and concerned for the well-being of others.

Vanessa served on the Whale Festival, the Hermanus Business Chamber, and the Whale Fringe Festival committees for a number of years. She was one of the founding board members of Whale Coast FM, and has also served on both the Hermanus Primary and Hermanus High PTAs. She also taught Drama and Art to many of Hermanus’ children since her move to Hermanus. In 2011 she was one of the trainers and mentors for the pilot Entrepreneurial outreach program in Hermanus for the University of Stellenbosch Business School, and trained some of the owners of successful Zwelihle businesses.

In 2018 Vanessa established Overstrand Unite, an informal association of people from across the Overstrand, to address the issues causing people in the poorer communities to protest. In December 2018, Overstrand Unite organized one of the largest multiracial protests in South Africa in collaboration with Zwelihle Renewal. More than 5 thousand people, black, coloured, and white, from Kleinmond through to Stanford took to the streets and marched peacefully to the Overstrand Municipality to present their collective demands. This catalyzed stability, peace, and justice in our communities as well as the overdue shift to establishing equality in the Overstrand.

In early 2019 Vanessa joined the newly established Land Party and has been an active member from day 1. Land Party is excited to have a person who is loyal, hard-working, fair, and astute, and, most importantly, has a heart for the people and much hope for her country.

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