Through a partnership between Matatiele communities, Matatiele Local Municipality and traditional leaders, traveling and touring locally has become easier, more exciting, but most of all lighter on the pocket, as communities don’t have to travel far to enjoy wildlife and mountain hiking.

This was due to the Mehloding Hiking trails, historic museum and the beautiful wildlife found in the scenic rural are of Maluti. Going through the Maluti Nature Reserve people can enjoy the sitting of Wildebeest, Blesbok, springboks, zebra’s and Reedbucks.

The tourism initiatives was part of the municipality’s platform from which to target young, up-and-coming South Africans, encouraging them to take shorter, more affordable holidays, more often and without spending a fortune.

Research indicates that there are 6.2 million South Africans out there that have the resources and desire to travel, but just aren‚t sure how to go about it, or what packages are on offer. Tourism currently contributes 8.3 percent to South Africa‚s GDP, and this figure is expected to increase to around 12 percent by 2014.
For any country to sustain tourism [and its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product], the backbone of this has got to be domestic travel.

On the continent, the travel and tourism industry in relation to direct spending is expected to contribute 3.7 percent to GDP in 2007, while the travel and tourism economy – incorporating direct and related spend – will contribute 9.9 percent.
Tourism in Africa is growing at the fastest rate ever at nearly 10 percent of GDP compared to global growth of 5 percent.

Speaking at the Africa Investor Tourism Awards in February, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk said international arrivals to Africa totalled 846 million in 2006, representing an additional 44 million arrivals over the preceding year with the same growth imminent for 2007.

“Tourism has become as effective tool to fight poverty while at the same time aiming to improve the capacity of the African destination so that we can respond adequately to the increasing demands of the increasingly competitive international market,” said the minister. Tourism in Matatiele has created a number of job opportunities. Within the Matatiele Mountain area, people touring the area can also enjoy rock art and also angling.

Either than the wildlife, those interested in the history of Matatiele can visit the ‘historic museum’, were they can learn about the different cultures around Matatiele. The Museum has interesting displays of San people, missionaries and pioneers with household objects, and early attire worn by Settlers, Fossils, Xhosa and Sotho displays.

Also on Display is the 19th century Imperial army that was stationed in the area, including posts and post cards. On service delivery the municipality has spent close to R12 million in the construction of over 840 RDP houses.

The municipality has also spent R1.2m in the resurfacing of Jager Street and over R700000 on maintaining about 10km of gravel road. The municipality has also spent more than R35 million in a number of IDP projects. These include the Hillside-Manzi access road, Mafube access road, Lunda Multi Purpose Centre.

The Eastern Cape Department of Roads and Transport is to invest close to R400 million in roads construction and maintenance in Alfred Nzo District Municipality in the next two financial years.

Roads and Transport MEC Thobile Mhlahlo made the announcement during the official opening of the Umzimvubu Vehicle Testing Station, in Mount Frere on October 18. Speaking to more than 1000 people, Mhlahlo said for many years, rural communities have been subjected to a public transport system that undermined their lives and integrity.

“As a result, there have been many accidents, which involved unroadworthy vehicles in this region. The situation became even worse when it involved school children,” Mhlahlo said. Mhlahlo said his department has spent R5.7million on the construction of this Vehicle Testing Station. “We will further spend R700 000 on the paving project on the Mount Frere’s Main Street (N2) and 50 local people have been employed.”

More vehicle testing stations are to be constructed in Lusikisiki, Mbizana and Butterworth. He said his department expects the Umzimvubu Municipality to take full control of this facility and ensure that it operates 24 hours.

He said Umzimvubu Municipality has been identified as a “Gateway to the Eastern Cape” during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, especially for football fans, who will be coming from Kwa-Zulu-Natal. “Councilors need to institute by-laws that would minimize the congestion in Mount Frere.”

The Department has recently opened a new permanent Traffic Control Station in Mount Ayliff to augment our road traffic safety efforts. The department has recently trained and appointed 25 Road Transport Inspectors, who will monitor the compliance of public transport (buses and taxis) operators and they have been deployed in all districts, including Alfred Nzo.

Mhlahlo announced that his department is busy regravelling the following roads:

* Sibi Administrative Area to Sihlabeni Administrative Area in Matatiele at a cost of R4.1 million.
* Ntsizwa Administrative Area towards Gogela Administrative Area in Mount Ayliff at a cost of R4.9 million.
* Mandileni Administrative Area to Luyengweni in Mount Frere at a cost of R5million.

He said they will soon start the regravelling of the road from Luyengweni to Nkorweni towards Mt Fletcher at a cost of R4.7 million. He further announced that work is currently underway on the construction of DR08015, with a 31 km stretch, known as T15.

The road will effectively link Mount Frere and Matatiele. The first phase of the project is costing the department R347 million and is expected to be completed by December 2009. Already, 133 local people have been employed, of which 42 are men, 10 women and 81 young people.

At the peak of the project, we will be having over 350 labourers on site.
Phase 2 and 3 have already been designed and each is approximately 32km long and the construction expected to commence in 2009.

In an effort to improve the bus passenger services in the former Transkei Region, the department has assisted local small bus operators to establish Africa’s Best 350 Ltd, which is a single legal entity established by the operators themselves.

The Department has allocated R43 million for this project and the rest of the funding will come from private financiers, which include the Industrial Development Corporation, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, National Empowerment Fund and Eastern Cape Development Corporation.

There have been delays in the signing of contracts by some of the financiers, which affected the delivery of buses. “We hope that before the end of the year, we will receive the first 28 buses from the supplier, which are ready to operate in Mbizana and here in Mount Frere.”

The last phase of distribution of another 55 buses is expected in April 2009 with more buses for the Alfred Nzo and OR Tambo districts. The buses will be operated from 7 depots in Mbizana, Lusikisiki, Mt Frere, Matatiele, Mthatha, Queenstown and Butterworth. A total of 166 routes have been identified for this project.