SDTA launched in Ga-Nchabeleng
Ga-Nchabeleng
The Sekhukhune District Tourism Association (SDTA) was officially launched on Friday 16 September, at the Sir Paul Guest House in Ga-Nchabeleng, Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality (FTLM).
The association was launched in partnership with Sekhukhune Development Agency (SDA), the entity wholly established and owned by Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM), as a peculiar vehicle to identify, initiate and implement high impact economic projects and create sustainable job creation opportunities in the district.
In her keynote address, Acting SDM Executive Mayor, Cllr Orginia Mafefe, said the launch of SDTA, its integrated branding strategy coupled with the unveiling of its logo and tourism pay-off line, comes at the right time.
“We are in the tourism month which is also famed as the heritage month. The dual, and certainly not dubious, benefit of being in this period is that it fulfils one’s sense of pride and belonging,” she said.
She emphasized that tourism associations by nature, are custodians of tourism industry and destination marketing of regions across the globe.
“Through collaborations they complete the visitor experience from the moment he or she lands in the port of entry until departure,” she said.
Mafefe commended the SDTA leadership collective for taking a resolution to rebrand the district as the friendliest place to be, by highlighting the seamless regional branding and coming up with a vision statement that reads: ‘Custodians of the Friendship Kingdom Experience’.
“This is in line with our district’s positioning as ‘The Friendship Kingdom.’ The positioning statement is distinct and it speaks to our true DNA,” she said.
Mafefe highlighted the friendship kingdom that goes beyond the modern-day demographics, stating that the district is home to various ethnic groups that speak Sepedi, IsiSwati, IsiNdebele, Afrikaans, IsiZulu, XiTsonga languages that thrive and call the region their home.
“We commend Queen Mother Hlapogadi ‘a Phaahle and Bapedi Kingdom for sustaining such a strategic ancestral friendship to this day with many initiatives such as naming of the SS Sekhukhune I battleship, which was launched at Durban harbor under the auspices of South African National Defense Force (SANDF),” explained Mafefe.
She said the Friendship Kingdom tagline, also serves to internationalize the heritage of Sekhukhune land, based on friendships among pre-colonial African societies and strengthen these relations as a primary niche market.
“This unique positioning also communicates confidence, historic influence and cultural esteem of the people of Sekhukhune land on the global stage,” she said.
Mafefe said she was humbled to learn that the majority of the tourism product owners that constitute SDTA are self-propelled entrepreneurs and their business models drive a sustainable community-based tourism system across the district.
“This means the communities where these tourism products operate have a significant level of involvement, have a strong sense of ownership and are involved in the delivery of the tourism service, and they complete the experience. That is in addition to employment and other related community benefits from the tourism products,” she said.
Mafefe encouraged residents of the district to visit local destination sites to promote tourism in the municipality.
“Tourism Mahala Week by the Limpopo WildLife Resorts gave the residents of Sekhukhune an opportunity to enjoy our district’s flagship, the Tambotie Ridge on Schuinsdraai Nature Reserve, which includes aquatic activities on Flag Boshielo Dam. We are still in tourism month and your mandate is clear, make this district the friendliest place to be,” she said.
