PHAKAMISA MAYABA / Given the latest unemployment figures, the Northern Cape Township Tourism Strategy (NCTS) could seemingly not have come at a better time — especially for Colesberg. Indeed, Colesberg — and specifically Kuyasa – have been identified as one of only five towns suited to this strategy in the entire Northern Cape.
On 13 August, StatsSA announced that national unemployment had risen to 33.5% (and youth unemployment to a staggering 45.5%), leading the Statistician-General, Risenga Maluleke, to lament that ‘the number of jobs that are being created are not able to deal with the issue.’
In his address at the opening of parliament last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged bluntly: ‘Millions of South Africans remain poor, unemployed and live in a highly unequal society. For a decade and a half, our economy has barely grown.’
He went on to define inclusive growth and job creation as the first of the GNU’s three strategic priories, and cited tourism as one of numerous ‘labour-intensive sectors’ in which the government would seek to drive new growth.
De Lille on tourism
On 20 August, the minister of tourism, Patricia de Lille, launched Tourism Month 2024 at a media event in Kimberley, among others in the presence of the Northern Cape premier, Dr Zamani Saul. The event was aimed at announcing that World Tourism Day — 27 September — would be celebrated in the Northern Cape, centring on the MeerKAT radio telescope installation outside the town of Carnarvon.
In the course of her speech, she said tourism was making a growing contribution to economic growth and job creation, and had a vital role to play in achieving the GNU’s most urgent priorities.
A Tourism Master Plan was already in place, which now needed to be effectively implemented. A R1.2 billion Tourism Equity Fund had been established, designed to facilitate greater inclusivity within the sector by supporting black-owned businesses and small to medium enterprises.
She added: ‘This fund is instrumental in driving sector transformation and ensuring that the benefits of tourism are more equitably distributed across our society. By providing crucial funding opportunities, we empower underrepresented entrepreneurs to participate meaningfully in the tourism economy, fostering a more inclusive and dynamic sector.’
All of this came closer to home when, on 26 July, the Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism convened a ‘consultation session’ on its Provincial Township Tourism Strategy with the Umsobomvu Local Municipality.
According to a statement issued by the municipality, the session was held a day after a meeting convened by the Department of Cooperative Governance (COGTA) and an urban planning consultancy called CITEPLAN on a ‘small-town regeneration strategy’ for Colesberg. It added that the strategies provided an opportunity to revive the local economy.
‘A catalyst for change’
The 190-page document makes interesting reading. It says township tourism has been identified as a ‘key developmental opportunity’ as well as a ‘catalyst for social change in the context of inequality in South Africa’. This includes bringing visitors to ‘sites of significance of the anti-apartheid movements as well as improving their understanding of poverty issues of historically oppressed communities’.
Tourists from all over the world are attracted by township tourism to experience the culture of townships. Its main main components are craft markets, cultural and political sites, and local restaurants. Tourism supports 1.5 million jobs, and has massive potential for further job creation. It is estimated that for every 12 tourists to South Africa, one job is created.
Jobs are created at all skills levels and and can absorb a high number of unskilled workers, therefore playing an imperative role in the local economy. Township tourism shows immense potential to provide growing economic opportunities for local entrepreneurs.
Tourists and travellers are looking for a more ‘authentic’ tourism experience. This brings a portion of South Africa’s lucrative tourism sector to some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities.
Township tourism opens the traveller’s viewpoint to the reality of the living conditions of most of the South African population. At the same time, it shows places ‘full of energy, culture, and hope for the future’.
To circumvent a situation where profits generated from tourism initiatives are in the hands of a few, development should be community-led, and benefits should be equitably shared’.
The report goes on to say that not all townships are ‘tourist-friendly’, and discloses that Colesberg is one of only five Northern Cape towns selected as a ‘main focus area’. The others are Kimberley, Upington, Kuruman and Springbok. It then process to an elaborate ‘situation analysis’ of each of the selected areas, as well as a ‘strategic development framework’.
Meanwhile, in Kuyasa …
Does reality on the ground mirror these elaborate plans and beautiful language? Not to be a party pooper, but in the course of its ’situation analysis’, the document references the Colesberg Railway Station as a ‘pivotal transportation hub’ which ‘facilitates travel and connectivity, linking the town to neighbouring areas and beyond, contributing to the region’s economic and social mobility’.
However, in reality, it’s been many years since the last train passed through the station. Older people recall a time where rail was an integral part of the local economy, and a source of employment, but those days are long gone. This raises the question of whether the consultants who wrote it were more interested in spinning out jargon (as well as their fees) than on doing useful research on the ground.
In the meantime, Listen to potential township entrepreneurs, clutching business plans and envelopes full of forms, and you soon realise that funding doesn’t come easy, if it comes at all. The long wait for government assistance often means closing up shop.
Kholeka Botha … forced to close her day care centre. Image: eParkeni.
Take Kholeka Botha and Nomawethu Makunza. Readers will remember that we previously covered their essential hustle: a day care centre giving about 30 children an education and two daily meals. They were running around applying for funding, but it never came, forcing them to closed the facility, leaving these children and their parents in the lurch. They have now applied for industrial equipment to start a couch cleaning service and to sell school uniforms. They’ve been waiting since last year.
Among the crippling local unemployment, the document arrives on the laps of scores of clamouring, resilient would-be beneficiaries, who’ve taken government’s advice to ‘vukuzenzele’ to heart. Business plans in hand, they’ve been registering companies in a bid to ‘get up and do it’ for themselves.
These include women like single mom Nolusindiso Qhankqiso, a diligent participant in local funding meetings. Formally unemployed, and with children to feed, she is dabbling in side hustles while waiting for funding to breathe life into her envisioned catering and construction business.
Nolusindiso Qhankqiso … still waiting for a helping hand. Image: eParkeni.
But not all is doom and gloom. Amid the despondency and arm-long waiting lists are people – women in particular – who’ve hit the ground running. Some time ago, we reported on women who had received funding from the Premier and were running thriving businesses – including food stalls and sewing businesses.
The exemplary Zoleka Fitshane of Amachule Creations assembles colourful umbhaco –traditional garments – for a growing list of customers. Her creations are cute, and her business is always bustling.
Some of Zoleka Fitshane’ creations. Image: eParkeni.
More examples of tenacity spring to mind. While not too long ago Kuyasa only featured a single accommodation facility, these have begun to flourish. Also, when the so-called township economy was once limited to booze, loan sharks, spazas and taxis, it has now expanded to car washes, shisanyamas and take-away joints operating out of people’s kitchens.
There are mobile refrigerator caravans, gazebos for rent, meat-cutting machines, cosmetics salespersons, welders, builders, and an growing array of other flourishing upstarts.
For many of these self-made entrepreneurs, it’s been a tedious journey, with lots of paperwork, and many doors to knock on. Many more aspirants are hoping that, with the advent of the Township Tourism Strategy, all of that will be yesterday’s bad news.
In the meantime, though, it seems long on wishful thinking and short on concrete proposals. Among others, we suggest the provincial planners should take another look at Colesberg station.
FEATURED IMAGE: The Umsobomvu Town Council meeting about the NC Township Tourism Strategy. Image: Umsobomvu Facebook page.
////////////////////////////////
This is an edited version of an article that first appeared on Phakamisa Mayaba’s website, eParkeni. Used with permission.