{"id":13097,"date":"2022-08-26T16:37:02","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T16:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/adieu-florence-benstrong-seychelles-mourns-the-passing-of-the-first-mayor-of-victoria"},"modified":"2022-08-26T17:38:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T17:38:06","slug":"adieu-florence-benstrong-seychelles-mourns-the-passing-of-the-first-mayor-of-victoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/adieu-florence-benstrong-seychelles-mourns-the-passing-of-the-first-mayor-of-victoria","title":{"rendered":"Adieu Florence Benstrong: Seychelles mourns the passing of the first Mayor of Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Seychelles. <\/strong><\/span>Florence Benstrong, the first ever Mayor of Victoria \u2013 the capital of Seychelles – passed away yesterday after a long illness, aged 83.<\/b><\/p>\n

On hearing of Benstrong’s death, President Wavel Ramkalawan \u2013 currently in Tunisia attending the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development \u2013 sent condolences on behalf of the people of Seychelles and in his own name to her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe express our deepest condolences to the Benstrong family as they mourn their beloved Florence. Her many contributions to the development of the country are well noted and the nation appreciates the leading role she played wherever she worked. We mourn yet the passing of another valued citizen,\u201d he said in a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n

From teaching to politics to the Office of the Mayor<\/b><\/p>\n

Prior to taking up public service positions in the Western Indian Ocean Island state, Benstrong began her career as a teacher at St Jean Bosco, an all boys school. In keeping with her background in education, Benstrong was later approached by former president, the late France Albert Rene, to join the initial team setting up the National Youth Service (NYS) \u2013 that she would eventually end up running when it opened in February 1981.<\/p>\n

The NYS was a compulsory two-year programme that youngsters aged 15 \u2013 17 in Seychelles had to serve.<\/p>\n

In the live-in camp, young people studied core subjects such as English and Mathematics as well as others such as animal husbandry, horticulture, typing, cooking and sewing.<\/p>\n

In a previous interview, Benstrong explained that the NYS wanted \u201cto teach them self-discipline, self-reliance and we would not like to see youths walking about with long hair or doing things that do not fit into a disciplined establishment like ours. It’s what we used to call ‘civics’ in the old days.”<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was my teacher at the NYS while she was also managing the whole village,\u201d said Benstrong\u2019s former student, Joanna Nicette.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can say she was strong on discipline while also being compassionate, she was someone I had great respect for,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

After her stint at the NYS, Benstrong later went into politics, becoming the Member for the National Assembly for the Mont Fleuri district for the Seychelles People\u2019s Progressive Front (SPPF), a district that is is roughly a five-minute drive away from Victoria. The SPPF is today known as United Seychelles.<\/p>\n

Benstrong, was appointed as the first Mayor of Victoria in 1997 and retired in 2007 \u2013 where she was behind many agreements including Seychelles joining United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) Africa.<\/p>\n

Benstrong was also the chairman of Seychelles Community Training Institute (Secti), when it celebrated its 13th anniversary in 2008.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Seychelles<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Seychelles. Florence Benstrong, the first ever Mayor of Victoria \u2013 the capital of Seychelles – passed away yesterday after a long illness, aged 83. On hearing of Benstrong’s death, President Wavel Ramkalawan \u2013 currently in Tunisia attending the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development \u2013 sent condolences on behalf of the people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,13,16],"tags":[234,268,253,233],"class_list":["post-13097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-social","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-seychelles","tag-mayor-of-victoria","tag-seychelles"],"yoast_head":"\nAdieu Florence Benstrong: Seychelles mourns the passing of the first Mayor of Victoria - Seychelles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Florence Benstrong, the first ever Mayor of Victoria \u2013 the capital of Seychelles - 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