King Goodwill Zwelethini
Consul General of Lesotho, Manoeli Ntholi
District Mayor, Ms Zanele Magwasa-Msibi
Jozini Mayor, Mrs Madlopha-Mtethwa
Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi
Managing Director of Jozini Lodge, Alan Vels
Honoured guests
Good evening
Thank you for inviting me to join you in celebrating the official opening of the Jozini Tiger Lodge. Tonight’s occasion will certainly take the Umkhanyakude district forward on its path of socio-economic development. I want to extend an apology on behalf of the Premier of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Zweli Mkhize, who could not be with us today.
The premier is on a state visit to Australia and is leading a delegation consisting of MEC for Economic Development, Mr Mike Mabuyakhulu, and MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Lydia Johnson. I have been informed that the premier and his delegation have had a series of groundbreaking meetings with key stakeholders both in government and in the private sector in Queensland.
The Queensland government has committed itself to promoting KwaZulu-Natal as a destination for tourists and investors from Australia. Queensland government has also agreed to encourage soccer fans to travel to KwaZulu-Natal to watch their national team taking part in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This augurs well for the hospitality industry in this province.
This province will host five countries: Greece, which will be based in Durban, Nigeria and Algeria in Ballito, Cameroon in Umhlanga, while Paraguay will be training in the Midlands. Clearly, this province stands to benefit from the influx of soccer fans from these countries.
The launch of Jozini Tiger Lodge is therefore timely and appropriate. You also seem to be geared for more than soccer fans with your close proximity to the Jozini Dam, which I believe offers excellent fishing opportunities. I am positive that you will also not miss the tourist “catch” crossing the Swaziland border. Not to speak of the conference facilities that will bring people up North. The spin-offs for other enterprises in the area should also not be forgotten.
Tourism constitutes about eight percent of the provincial gross domestic product (GDP) and the economic impact of tourism for 2008 was in the order of R22 billion, employing 144 000 people in KwaZulu-Natal. The opening of the new airport, the King Shaka International Airport with direct landing flights (mostly from the East) will provide opportunities for further growth.
Since the commissioning of the Emirates to fly into Durban, there were 9 000 international passenger arrivals through the Dubai to Durban flights in December 2009 alone.
Our tourism marketing includes specific initiatives for this year, these include:
* The establishment of the convention and events bureau to support the province’s bid to attract big conferences and events
* Packaging and sourcing of investors for mega beach resorts to support the global competitiveness study outcomes, and to position KwaZulu-Natal as a beach destination, particularly for land locked countries. Such resorts will also serve as a base for positioning the King Shaka International Airport for holiday air charter operations
* Special focus on niche tourism, such as cruises, golf, health and hunting. Already in the pipeline are initiatives, such as the Seatrade Africa Cruise Forum, scheduled to take place in 2011, the World Health Tourism Congress later in the year and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with leading hunting associations for KwaZulu-Natal hunting packages.
* Hunting is known for its ability to stimulate rural economic development. These initiatives will give KwaZulu-Natal an opportunity to overtake the Western Cape as the leading destination for international tourists.
According to recent statistics, KwaZulu-Natal was the leading domestic tourism destination with 32 percent of the market share. It is the third most popular destination for international visitors, totalling 1.4 million tourists. We have tremendous potential and I cannot see why we cannot be NUMBER ONE in the international market.
Tourism’s capacity to employ women and youth, as well as other vulnerable members of society, can contribute greatly to socio-economic development. Not only will the Jozini Tiger Lodge provide accommodation and entertainment to visitors but it also offers employment opportunities to the community. I am pleased to hear that members of the community have not only been employed but have also received training, which enable them to deliver a good service.
Visitors, who go home with good memories of their stay, will share their experience with relatives, friends and colleagues. This in turn will attract more people to the city. Success in the hospitality industry heavily relies on quality service and customer care. I know the new staff members employed by the hotel will live up to the high expectations.
The future of this province depends on how well we deal with challenges as a collective.
We have great natural resources. Government will continue to ensure that these resources are used to overcome inequalities and ultimately make a serious dent to poverty. Poverty is a scourge that this government will never tolerate.
Before the new dispensation, politics and economics of the day systematically entrenched poverty as a way of life. It is for these reasons that this government has a contract with the people to fight poverty.
Fundamentally poverty will be eradicated when local communities pull together and look after each other and themselves. The advancement of black people in this country is critical for our economic growth and development.
Many communities are still confronted by constant rise in the costs of food, water, electricity, fuel, houses and services. With an average of 48 percent of the population living below the poverty line, the country is fighting to close the economic and social gap between the rich and poor.
Initiatives, like the Jozini Tiger Lodge, play a meaningful role in closing the gap. The vegetable garden that will be set up for the community to sell their produce back to the Lodge’s kitchen, the sponsoring and establishment of a Jozini Tiger Lodge soccer team, as well as some other projects will all pave the way to a successful partnership, both cross-sector and with government.
We want to congratulate all stakeholders that are involved in this project. I want to pay tribute to the owners, amakhosi, councillors and other key stakeholders present today representing various communities.
Creating positive attitudes result in a spirit of peace, tolerance, and a belief that we can all contribute to make this a better province and country.
The biggest threat to this country would be the failure to ensure that local communities reap the benefits of national parks, tourism destinations and other interesting features of our province. We must all work together: mayors, councillors, traditional leaders, izinduna, religious leaders, etc. to create an environment that will provide for the development of all communities.
And indeed, if we are able to create this environment, we will be able to promote the respect of human lives and the respect of individual property.
Community involvement means that anybody’s life is as important as your own. This culture promotes love, a sense of belonging, generosity, caring and compassion. It creates an environment where anybody’s property is safe under anybody’s watch. That is really what we wanted freedom to bring along, not the rampant and violent criminality that we are experiencing. Therefore we must stand up and say our road towards freedom cannot be complete until we stand together and eradicate crime.
We want to congratulate the development team on what they have achieved here and we wish them all the success with this endeavour and their contribution towards turning KwaZulu-Natal into a destination of choice, not only for domestic visitors but also for international visitors.
I thank you.
Issued by: Provincial Treasury, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
25 March 2010
Source: Provincial Treasury, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
(http://www.kzntreasury.gov.za/)
