HOMEPAGE

HOMEPAGE	CASE WRITERS		CASE STUDY		CASE PROBLEM
CONCLUSION		LEARNER ACTIVITIES		TEACHER NOTES

CASE STUDY

South Africa

Environmental issues which restrict the

development of cultural tourism in a rural township

INTRODUCTION

This case study is set in the KUYASA TOWNSHIP, COLESBERG, in the Northern Cape Province, one of the largest provinces of the Republic of South Africa. It describes the impact of household waste on the local tourism industry. This study also outlines the viewpoints, sentiments and action plans of various stakeholders.

PROFILE

Location

South Africa, southern tip of African continent.

Colesberg, Northern Cape Province, situated halfway between South Africa’s major cities, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The Kuyasa Township: This is a disadvantaged settlement for " blacks" originating from the previous "apartheid" era. Its origins also were as a settlement and staging post to absorb population movement from rural areas in and out of the mining and industrial complexes. The Kuyasa Township is located adjacent to the more affluent white suburbs of Colesberg. Today the Greater Colesberg includes the Kuyasa Township and Lowryville (a group areas- settlement for "coloureds", also with extremes of poverty and no economic base.)

Area

25 km² (Colesberg Town, the Kuyasa Township and Lowryville today form the Greater Colesberg area).

Topography is characterised by striking rock outcrops known as "koppies"

Climate

Extreme temperatures: -10° C in winter to 38° C in summer.

Rainy season between November and March

Very windy during August and September

Population

Multi – cultural

Blacks : 18 000

Coloureds: 6 000

Whites: 2 000

Language

English, Afrikaans (spoken by Whites, Coloureds and some Blacks)

Xhosa (home language of local black population)

Economy

% of Economic Activity

Agriculture 53.4

Tourism 35.8

Developing natural & conservation areas 1.6

One of the largest sheep abattoirs in SA: 8.9

employs about 400 local people

private sector 0.3

Tourist Attractions

More than 2000 beds available: 80% of all visitors only overnight
Anglo–Boer War(1899 – 1903): Battle Fields Sites
Sheep Farming & Farm Holidays

Abattoir which slaughters more than 2000 sheep per day. Guided daily tours through the slaughtering sections, value-added division and packaging sections.

Kemper Museum, which includes stone-age technology and art, colonial frontier issues

The Kuyasa Township: Traditional Xhosa Restaurant

Traditional Xhosa House Museum

Traditional Xhosa Handcraft & Art

Traditional Xhosa music, dance & entertainment

Guided donkey cart rides through township

Krakra Macicki Memorial (Political Unrest – era) - "1980's"

BACKGROUND

The situation in Colesberg evolved out of pressures on settlements as a result of colonial rivalry and control measures on land, notably through the British colonial administration, squatter acts etc, the precursors of "Apartheid".

When the National Party came to power in South Africa in 1948, it adopted the "apartheid" policy. One of the objectives of the "apartheid" policy was to keep races apart. Separate living areas, most of which had no basic infra-structure or services like running water and electricity, were allocated to people of colour. The government injected money into the development of the white areas, their education facilities and their infra-structure. Very little was done to develop the separate living areas for blacks, which resulted in the mushrooming of so-called "LOCATIONS" or "TOWNSHIPS" for people of colour, where unemployment and poor socio-economic circumstances forced residents to resort to crime for survival in many instances. Today, six years after the first democratic government was elected in South Africa, the now ruling ANC government spends millions of Rands to eradicate the backlog in education, health and social welfare in these townships.

A typical ‘black; house in Kuyasa township
A typical ‘white’ house in Colesberg

After the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1992 and the first democratic elections in the history of South Africa in 1994, all people of South Africa were finally treated as equals. The newly elected ANC government immediately started upliftment programmes to benefit previously disadvantaged communities. Today many people of colour are employed in top positions in government and in the private sector, are community leaders and owners of businesses.

Toise Allie was one of those people who previously had to work for white people because he had no opportunity to own his own business.

TOISE ALLIE’S STORY
Toise Allie was a bar attendant in the ladies bar of a successful local hotel for 25 years. He earned just enough money to support his family of four. His youngest son, Nkosinathi, now a Travel & Tourism learner in Grade 12 at Umso Secondary School the in Kuyasa Township, helped his father in the bar over weekends since he was a young boy. Together, they listened, watched and learned about the hospitality industry, and when Toise received an unexpected inheritance at the beginning of last year, it was Nkosinathi who suggested that they should open their own accommodation establishment in the Kuyasa Township.

Believing that tourism was exclusively a "white" industry, Toise Allie was not enthusiastic, but his son convinced him of the advantages of such an establishment. Toise started doing some research. He talked to some of the owners of the 59 existing guest houses in Colesberg town, consulted the local tourism office and carefully studied his son’s notes and school work on accommodation establishments.

"HIER IS LEKKER" GUEST HOUSE (loosely translated : "It is nice to be here"), the first ever guest house owned and run by a local black family in the Kuyasa Township of Colesberg, opened its doors in November 1999. It offers tourists a choice of nine neat, comfortable rooms to choose from, safe parking, a cosy fully licensed bar, a lounge and a small dining area, where Toise’s wife offers traditional Xhosa meals on request. Toise even arranges with locals to supply entertainment for his guests in the form of traditional music and dances. A real-life success story ……

OR WAS IT … ???

"Hier is Lekker" Guest House

The case writers interviewing Mr Toise Allies

Waste in the township