NC Tourism Strategy: Can it Dig Township Residents out of Poverty?

In light of StatsSA’s latest unemployment figures, the Northern Cape Township Tourism Strategy (NCTS) couldn’t have come at a time where it’s most desperately needed to Colesberg’s Kuyasa Township. On Tuesday (Aug 13), the agency announced that joblessness had risen to 33.5% between April-June, leaving the Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke reiterating words that can scantily be gainsaid. ‘The number of jobs that are being created,’ he lamented, ‘are not able to deal with the issue of unemployment.’

In his speech during the opening of parliament last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa echoed these despairing sentiments. ‘Millions of South Africans remain poor, unemployed and live in a highly unequal society,’ said the president. ‘For a decade and a half, our economy has barely grown.’ Amongst what he termed as ‘labour-intensive sectors,’ he listed tourism as one of the sectors in which government would seek to drive growth.

‘We are convinced that small businesses and the informal sector hold the greatest potential for inclusive growth and job creation.’ On this score, he promised to ‘pay particular attention to supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises in township’s and Rural areas.’ Furthermore, he declared that the government of national unity (GNU) would place inclusive economic growth at the heart of its objectives.

More recently (Aug 20) and a little closer to home Northern Cape Premier Dr Zamani Saul and Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille officially launched the Domestic Tourism Programme signifying the start of this year’s Tourism Month. ‘Rural tourism,’ said de Lille, ‘can have a big impact on the local economy. We need to explore the hidden gems of the tourism sector.’ In this year’s tourism month the focus is on astro tourism. To this, said Dr Saul: ‘We contested with the world to be the host for the building of the SKA [Square Kilometre Array telescope] and we were the winners, hence we secured the R4.3 billion investment.’

It all sounds promising until one takes stock that similar messaging has been coming from both Ramaphosa as well as his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, this when the growth figures were plummeting and unemployment spiking. Protracted at best and entirely deferred at worst, the goal towards economic reform is arguably one of the reasons that voters flipped the red card, hoping for a party that would escalate and address their daily hardships.

Ramaphosa, however, seems cognisant of this and this being his last term at the helm, is apparently intent on making amends for a tenure which has largely been considered ineffectual and lacking innovation. Earlier this month (Aug 14) he reportedly met ‘with members of Business for South Africa (B4SA) after Cabinet members, senior business leaders and technical experts from the government met on Tuesday to discuss what has been deemed a new era of collaboration for a partnership launched last year to address barriers to growth in South Africa.’

From these discussions were two key take-aways: put the labour unions on the back burner and cut the red tape. In his parliamentary speech, Ramaphosa had conceded; ‘red tape debilitates the creation of jobs. Every department and every public entity has been directed to reduce the undue regulatory burdens that hold back businesses from creating jobs.’

In The DA’s Plan to Unleash Enterprise, Grow the Economy and Create Jobs, 2024, the second biggest party in the (GNU) also notes ‘the vital importance of small businesses and entrepreneurship in driving economic growth.’ The document also hammers on the issue of red tape and stringent regulation stating that ‘small businesses spend, on average, between four and six percent of their turnover on compliance with regulatory requirements.’ Access to funding and micro finance are amongst their strategies to assist budding and established entrepreneurs.

The Northern Cape Township Tourism Strategy

This extensive document identifies ‘township tourism … as a key developmental opportunity’ and the ‘main components of the tourism experience are craft markets, cultural and political sites, and local restaurants.’ Despite highlighting impediments to a thriving township tourism sector, the document notes the industry’s potential to ‘create jobs at all skill levels and can absorb a high number of unskilled workers therefore playing an imperative role in the local economy.’

The NC tourism department has therefore sought to zone in its township tourism to the areas of Kimberley, Upington, Kuruman, Springbok and Colesberg’s own Kuyasa Township. To circumvent a situation where profits generated from tourism initiatives are in the hands of a few, the department seeks that ‘development is community-led and benefits are equitably shared.’

However, does the reality on the ground mirror the elaborate plans and beautiful language? Not to be a party pooper but when noting the local landscape and facilities, the document references the Colesberg Railway Station to be 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.’ But residents will woefully point out that it’s been many years since the last train passed through here. And those of earlier generations will recall a time where rail was an integral part of the economy and a source of employment. This immediately raises questions as to whether this is a genuine provincial government strategy or just another document written procedurally from on high?

Listen to potential township entrepreneurs, business plans in hand and envelopes full of forms and you realise that funding also doesn’t come easy, if it ever comes at all. These people have long come to terms with the fact that employment may continue to elude them and have since hinged their hopes on entrepreneurship. However, the long wait for government assistance often means closing up shop.

Take Kholeka Botha and Nomawethu Makunza. You’ll remember we once covered their essential hustle: a day care centre affording around 32 children an education and two daily meals. Then, they were running around applying for funding. It never came. Now they’ve ultimately closed-up the facility, leaving these children and their parents having lost out on a crucial service. But the ladies have enough in their young tanks not to give up on themselves. Nowadays they are applying for industrial equipment to start a couch cleaning service and to sell school uniforms. They’ve been waiting since last year.

With staggering 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 who’s a diligent participant in local funding meetings. Unemployed and with kids to feed, she is dabbling in side hustles whilst she waits on funding to breathe life into her envisioned catering and construction business.

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. A few years ago we reported on women who’d received funding from the Premier and whose businesses are thriving in town. There are street food stalls and sewing businesses. There’s even the examplery Zoleka Fitshane of Amachule Creations who could, amongst others, put together a colorful umbhaco – a traditional garment – for a customer. Her creations are cute little pieces and her business is always bustling.

Plenty more tenacious examples spring to mind. In a township that not too long ago could only boast a single accommodation facility, there’s been a gradual flourishing in these. Also, when the so-called township economy was once limited to booze, loansharks, spazas and taxis, we are happy to report of car washes, shisanyamas and take-away joints operating straight out of people’s kitchens. There are mobile refrigerator caravans, gazebos for rent, meat-cutting machines, cosmetics salespersons, welders, builders, even publications like this one (currently kept alive out of pocket by a certain Maeder Osler) and an ever-growing array of flourishing upstarts.

For many of these self-made successes, it’s been a tedious journey, lots of paperwork to file, too many doors to knock on but, but now they hope that with documents like the NCTS seemingly coming to the rescue, all of that will be yesterday’s bad news. But mostly, given the meetings they so religiously attend, they hope that government will ultimately come to the party.