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You can also see details of events in the Lewisham area on the events page.
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President of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma welcomed to Lewisham
Lewisham has a long and strong link with South Africa especially in its campaigning to end apartheid, its friendship with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was awarded Freeman of the Borough of Lewisham in 1990 and our links with Ekurhuleni near Johannesburg.
The President heard from young people in Lewisham involved in the traineeship programme, the care leavers volunteering project, South East London to South Africa, and our Young Mayor’s project.
All the young people did Lewisham proud, and I think genuinely impressed the President, who left saying that young mayors must be introduced to South Africa.
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This will be my last contribution to this bulletin before the elections on 6 May. For more information on the elections, including how to register to vote, visit our election pages.
Olympics on the way
With the conclusion of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, its amazing to think that the next city to light the Olympic flame will be London. More than 10,000 athletes from over 200 countries will visit the capital in 2012 to compete.
They will bring fans and supporters from across the world, which will create a huge legacy and massive tourism for the capital. In turn, this will bring real opportunities for Lewisham so it’s important we show off all that our borough has to offer.
To help do this, during February I launched Lewisham's prospectus for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Making the 2012 Games count for Lewisham.
Communities impact on Council decisions
Olympic decisions are made at a global level. But for Lewisham residents, local decisions are just as – if not more – important in terms of their day-to-day lives. That’s why we’ve been working hard over recent years to ensure that local people are given a real opportunity to have a say in how the Council makes decisions.
A key part of that journey has been the introduction of local assemblies so I was really glad to hear that, as part of a recent review, a majority of Lewisham residents agree that local assemblies provide them with an ongoing and useful forum to influence Council decisions.
Council tax freeze
We have had an incredibly busy start to March. On Monday 1 March, council tax was frozen at current levels for the coming year (Lewisham freezes council tax for 2010/11). It’s important that we do everything we can to make things easier for people at this difficult time and I’m really glad we have managed to freeze council tax while still supporting and protecting front line services.
More ways to report hate crime
Lewisham Council, Lewisham Police and community and voluntary organisations have joined together to extend the number of sites where people can report hate crime in Lewisham.
Make a Difference awards
On Thursday, the Council held its first awards evening to celebrate and recognise those citizens across the borough who give their time freely and generously to help their neighbours, their community and their environment.
Six very worthy individuals received Make a Difference awards and I was delighted to award the outstanding community champion award to Danielle Menezes Heath. Congratulations to all those who were nominated.
Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham
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