More than sixty Tzaneen residents, mostly business and professional people, left in a Great North Transport bus, escorted by a contingency of staff from SA Breweries, to visit three taverns in the Tickyline and Lenyenye areas.
The first stop was a typical rural tavern known as Cheers where hundreds of community members, young and old, mingled with the visitors and cheerfully expressed their surprise and pleasure of playing hosts to “makgowa” (white people) in their backyard.
From here it was on to the more upmarket Maputla tavern where, apart from the normal abundance of the whole range of SAB products, the guests were also treated to a traditional dinner including Mopani worms, cow lips and a variety of other dishes.
The last stop was at Mzansi where kwaito music had locals and visitors dancing the night away while building bridges between communities so close in proximity yet, at times, worlds apart in understanding and enjoying each other’s cultures and habits.
The SAB and Chamber Tavern Tour is a massively successful bridge building exercise in this area and Friday morning hundreds, if not thousands, of local residents from very diverse backgrounds and cultures woke up to a feeling of living in a community which is just a bit rosier and more tolerable with race, colour or creed not a reason to not respect and appreciate each other.
‘Thank you Naresh, Charl, Eddie and the rest of the team. Thank-you SA Breweries.’ the chamber said.