With the 2010 Soccer World Cup slowly approaching the Eastern Cape as one of the host cities is gearing itself for the influx of tourists that many have never even heard of this beautiful province.
British Airways in-plane magazine HighLife visited the Office of the Premier to speak to the Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kiviet about what makes Impuma Koloni tick.
The candid interview that is going to be read by 3,8 million people across the globe that flies with British Airways was to address the misconceptions and ill will some overseas people might have about South Africa.
“Most overseas people do have misconceptions about South Africa with the HIV debacle being one of them,” said Kiviet. The lack of media coverage said Premier Kiviet on the efforts by government in rolling out of ARV’s and its AIDS awareness campaigns to educate people also fuel the negativity.
In advocating the virtues of the Eastern Cape as not just another province Premier Kiviet assured Highlife that the province can hold its own against the major destinations of tourists with Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town coming to mind.
“The Eastern Cape has for years been a gateway for many international ships that do business here and the environmental factors are conducive to a lot of businesses,” said Kiviet. The Eastern Cape is still the only province to produce two South African presidents and according to Premier Kiviet that says a lot about what the province is capable of.
“We are known for producing good leaders who have been shaped by the environment they grew up in and they talk about poverty because they lived in poverty,” said Kiviet proudly. The comment was to cast as a fallacy the notion that people need to be from affluent families to lead.
The interview shed light on the Eastern Cape as an alternative tourism and business attraction to overseas visitors is to be seen on all British Airways flights in their magazine Highlife.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
28 July 2009
Source: Office of the Premier, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
(http://www.ecprov.gov.za/)
