The Department of Tourism is currently identifying key sites for infrastructure enhancement to add to the list of ‘What’s your 100 Madiba experiences’, a campaign to be launched by South African Tourism.
The campaign was announced by South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Tokozile Xasa, while commemorating the late former President, Nelson Mandela at the launch of the Commemorate Initiatives in Celebration of Mandela’s centenary at the Nelson Mandela Museum in the Eastern Cape.
The Department of Tourism has linked some of its planned activities and projects to the Department’s nodal approach. This approach targets strategically identified geographic areas/nodes with a concentration of defined tourism potential/attractiveness for tourism growth and development. The planned activities will promote inclusive tourism growth and development by benefiting unemployed youth, women, people with disabilities, SMMEs and co-operatives that are located in rural areas or townships.
The planned projects are outlined below:
-Nelson Mandela Capture Site in Howick, KwaZulu Natal: A partnership with KZN province will focus on enhancing the tourism offering at the Capture Site. The province is currently working with the Cooperative Governance Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and Umgeni Local Municipality to invest R57 million (€3,8 million) in an Interpretation and Multipurpose Centre at the site.
-Partnership with Robben Island: The Department has committed R10 million (€680 000) toward destination enhancement. The project involves digitisation of heritage archives of Robben Island, links to the creative industry through partnership with local artists and crafters, as well as the conversion of buildings for alternative usage.
-The People Park Project at Constitution Hill, Johannesburg: The Department will create ‘the People’s Park’ at Constitution Hill Precinct, which will include the construction of an open park space, a playground, high street retail amenities, construction of pedestrian routes, public open spaces connecting the surrounding community to the Constitutional Court, and wheelchair-friendly bridges and pathways, sensory paths for the visually impaired and upgrades to the lifts, all in honour of the South African Constitution turning 21.
-The Living the Legacy Exhibition, Gauteng: This is a new project added for consideration by the Department. The project involves an interactive, experiential exhibition that will allow visitors to access the political history and heritage of the liberation struggle. The proposed exhibition will launch in 2018 and run for two years at Maropeng in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in Gauteng.
The Cradock Four Garden of Remembrance (Phase two), is a R28 million (€1.9 million) construction project by the Expanded Public Works Programme ( EPWP) implemented in memory of the Cradock Four anti-apartheid activists. This project has been completed and the Department will hand it over to the Inxuba Ythemba Local Municipality, who will manage and run the facility until a suitable operator is identified. The Department will further provide relevant training in service, tourist guide training, marketing (Indaba) of the facility and other interventions.
The Department’s Coastal and Marine Tourism (CTM) Implementation Plan, approved by Cabinet in 2017, aims to grow a world-class, sustainable coastal and marine tourism destination, leveraging all SA has to offer. Three initiatives have been indentified, namely the Blue Flag Beaches Programme, Boat-based Whale Watching and Shark Cage Diving, and Off-road Vehicle 4x4 Beach Driving.
The launch of the Eastern Cape six-day Hiking Trail in 2018 has also been put forward as a Mandela Centenary Project. The R9 million (€612 200) nodal project is in the Port St John’s Local Municipality. The project would establish a six-day hiking trail from Port St John’s to Coffee Bay that would provide, in addition, ablution facilities and huts for overnight accommodation, explained Xasa.
The partnership with The Culture, Art, Tourism, Hospitality, and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA) towards the Eastern Cape Development Projects at the King Sabata Dalindyebo, is a project that hopes to see Coffee Bay transformed into a fully fledged economic hub, utilising tourism as a catalyst for economic development, with the aim of revamping the Coffee Bay Hotel. CATHSSETA has earmarked R10 million (€680 200) for this project.
