Beira mayor Daviz Simango receives Global Cities Award

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Beira mayor Daviz Simango receives Global Cities Award

9:41 CAT | 22 Oct 2018

Photo: Twitter / @gpmayors

The mayor of the central Mozambican city of Beira, Daviz Simango, on Sunday received the Dr Benjamin Barber Global Cities Award at a ceremony in the British city of Bristol.

The ceremony took place at the opening of the 2018 Annual Summit of the Global Parliament of Mayors. The three-day event will focus on tackling key global challenges such as migration, urban security and population health.

According to the organisers, Simango was given his award for “his leadership, transparency, and climate action”. He shared the award with the Mayor of the South African city of Durban, Zandile Gumede. The Global Parliament of Mayors added that “the exemplary work of Mayors Gumede and Simango is about more than just addressing the issues their cities face. They were praised for their brave and ambitious leadership”.

In his acceptance speech, Simango, who is also leader of the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), dedicated his award to young leaders, arguing that “young people can change the world”.

The event sees 87 mayors from around the world gather to share experience in tackling local challenges resulting from global problems.

The summit is hosted by the Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees. He commented, “I am enormously proud to be hosting the Global Parliament of Mayors third summit here in my home city of Bristol. This is an exciting opportunity to decide how cities can best collaborate to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time, and ensure that local knowledge, expertise and connections are effectively fed into national and international processes”.

“Together, we will explore ways in which we can ensure that migration is a force for good, and that city leaders’ voices feed in to international agreements around migration. We will explore how city leaders can improve public health and be prepared for 21st century pandemics, and discuss collaboration to increase urban security before voting on key priorities that we will commit to tackling collectively. But this is about much more than sharing knowledge and best practice – it’s about actively committing to work together to deliver change and improve lives.”

Among those expected to attend the events is Manuel Araujo from Quelimane. He successfully ran for mayor in 2013 on behalf of the MDM but in October’s elections headed the list of candidates from the main opposition party Renamo. However, there is uncertainty over whether he will continue in his post despite Renamo winning the municipal election in Quelimane.

He was officially removed from his post in August by the national government due to the law on the administrative supervision of municipalities which states that any elected municipal official who joins a party other than the one for which he was elected, automatically loses his job. Furthermore, a person in that position cannot stand in the next round of municipal elections. He has appealed against this decision to the Administrative Tribunal, which has yet to rule on the matter.

Leah Barber, @LeolucaOrlando1 of Palermo, Italy and @MarvinJRees of Bristol, UK with this year’s recipients of the Dr. Benjamin Barber Global Cities Awards: @MayorDurban and Mayor Daviz Simango from Beira, Mozambique #GPMSummit #Bristol pic.twitter.com/2EkoTMy2dU

— GPM (@gpmayors) October 22, 2018

We are delighted to welcome the global Mayors on stage for the opening of the #GPMsummit #Bristol pic.twitter.com/UL7F4lCZOM

— GPM (@gpmayors) October 22, 2018

“Tweeting is not public policy” – @Michael_Nutter, former mayor of Philadelphia, making powerful statement at @gpmayors session on migration. Honored he is also a Distinguished Senior Fellow on Global Cities @ChicagoCouncil pic.twitter.com/OOaQVG7l5R

— Juliana Kerr (@julianarkerr) October 22, 2018

Source: AIM