(Note to Editors: The following Debate was delivered during a Sitting of the KZN Legislature held today).
In 2005, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) attracted approximately 11.6 million domestic visitors and 1.6 million international visitors, establishing itself as South Africa’s leading domestic tourism destination. Together, these visitors contributed an estimated R20.7 billion to the provincial economy. While tourism has undoubtedly recovered to some extent since the COVID-19 pandemic, our province’s current performance does not hold a candle to what was achieved during the 2000s. In fact, international inbound travel has declined by 63.3%.
Our Coastline
This raises an important question: what firm commitments has the eThekwini Presidential Working Group made to repair the wastewater treatment plants that continue to discharge thousands of litres of sewage into our rivers and prized beaches? KZN has lost Blue Flag status at several beaches. This is not simply an environmental embarrassment; it is an economic crisis.
If government – and by extension KZN’s Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) – is serious about getting our provincial economy working again, restoring our coastline must be treated as a top priority. Tourism creates employment across accommodation, transport, restaurants, retail, conservation and small businesses. We possess a world-class tourism asset, yet we are allowing it to lie fallow.
Wastewater infrastructure is only part of the problem. Crime, urban degradation, grime, refuse and deteriorating public spaces are also major red flags. Visitors will not return to Durban and the broader province if they fear being robbed, cannot swim safely at our beaches or find the city dirty and neglected.
Ithala
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is also concerned that R100million has been reprioritised to bail out Ithala Bank. Of this, R3million has reportedly been removed from Tourism KZN’s budget. There must be serious consequence management for those responsible for Ithala’s deterioration. The public deserves answers. Investigations into the conduct and decisions of the board, senior management and the chief executive must be concluded without unnecessary delay, and the findings made public. The DA welcomes EDTEA’s decision to suspend the CEO pending investigation.
We must be told how this institution was allowed to reach this point, who was responsible and what safeguards will be introduced to ensure that it is never repeated. Tourism and other job-creating programmes should not continually be expected to carry the cost of governance failures elsewhere.
Job creation
In a province where the expanded unemployment rate is 43.2%, and 6 out of 10 young people are unemployed, we must leave no stone unturned in getting our citizens working. Manufacturing is under severe pressure in KZN, despite the enormous potential that exists. While we cannot ignore the impact of geopolitical conflicts on the sector, there are also unfavourable local conditions that underlie the decline.
To attract investors back, the fundamentals must work;
• Roads must be maintained;
• Businesses must have a reliable supply of water and electricity;
• Refuse must be collected and;
• Municipal approvals must be processed efficiently.
Investors cannot operate in an environment of failing infrastructure and administrative uncertainty.
KZN should study the deliberate investment-promotion model being implemented in the DA-led Western Cape where the Atlantis Special Economic Zone has been positioned as a dedicated hub for green technology manufacturing, supported by targeted incentives, infrastructure and coordinated investment promotion.
Wesgro, the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape, also aggressively and actively positions the province internationally and directs investors towards specific sectors and economic hubs. Through its Growth for Jobs Strategy, the province has set clear ambitions to substantially increase tourism and exports by 2035.
KZN needs the same level of focus, coordination and measurable ambition. There is considerable potential in wind energy, biomass and green manufacturing. Biomass can turn agricultural, plant and animal waste into energy and fuel, creating value from materials that would otherwise be discarded.
Our province also has enormous potential in agro-processing. Rather than exporting raw agricultural products and allowing the value to be added elsewhere, it should be developing local processing facilities, local supply chains and local markets. The Bergville agro-processing initiative provides a useful example of what can be achieved. But isolated projects will not transform the provincial economy, successful models must be expanded and replicated across KZN.
Cannabis and industrial hemp also represent potentially multibillion-rand industries. Hemp can be used in construction materials, textiles, food products, oils, pharmaceuticals, animal feed and bio-composites. But farmers cannot succeed if they are encouraged to grow raw materials without nearby processing facilities, access to markets, regulatory certainty or affordable financing.
KZN should establish dedicated processing hubs and develop the full value chain, from cultivation and research to manufacturing and export. Done properly, this sector has the potential to create thousands of jobs, particularly in rural areas.
Conservation
While the DA welcomes progress being made by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife in pursuing public-private partnerships, this process must be accelerated. Ezemvelo must remain focused on its core conservation mandate, while suitably qualified private partners help ensure that tourism facilities are operated, marketed and maintained to world-class standards. Too many resorts, lodges and visitor facilities have deteriorated to the point where occupancy levels and revenue have declined.
While the maintenance budget has increased, it remains below the approximately 6% of asset value generally required for sustainable maintenance. This creates a destructive cycle. Ezemvelo argues that it does not have sufficient revenue to maintain its facilities, yet, when facilities are poorly maintained, visitors stay away, occupancy declines and own revenue falls even further.
The DA congratulates the intelligence services, Ezemvelo and the South African Police Service (SAPS) for their cooperation in preventing a recent suspected poaching incident near Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park – although any loss of life is deeply regrettable. This successful intervention demonstrates the importance of intelligence-led conservation enforcement. It also shows why KZN cannot afford to take its foot off the accelerator when it comes to anti-poaching operations.
Turning to Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park’s elephant population, the current situation, how it developed and what management failures contributed to it must be investigated. Elephants are highly intelligent and sentient animals. Culling cannot become the routine response to years of inadequate planning or delayed population management. EDTEA and Ezemvelo must present a transparent, scientifically grounded and ethically defensible long-term elephant-management strategy. This should consider habitat capacity, contraception, ecological impacts and regional cooperation.
Climate Change
Finally, climate change poses an escalating risk to KZN’s infrastructure, agriculture, coastline, water security, tourism industry and communities. The department shares aspects of the climate-change mandate with the Office of the Premier, but the central challenge is now coordination and accountability. EDTEA currently has only a small number of climate-related performance indicators. These indicators appear fragmented and do not clearly form part of a comprehensive provincial climate-response strategy.
The province must explain whether it has adequately budgeted for the responsibilities imposed by the Climate Change Act. Where responsibilities are shared between departments, the respective roles must be clearly defined. The budget must show which institution is responsible for implementation, how much funding has been allocated and what measurable outcomes are expected.
KZN has extraordinary assets: a globally significant coastline, world-renowned protected areas, major ports, fertile agricultural land, an established manufacturing base and communities with enormous entrepreneurial potential. But potential alone does not create jobs. The DA, as a responsible partner within KZN’s Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) remains committed to ensuring that our province works for all its people.