Possible face-lift for tourism attractions?

Lolo Madonsela

Zulu Cultural Village 
The Zulu Cultural Village (ZCV), which was intended to be a tourist attraction in Vryheid and a cash cow for AbaQulusi, has been sitting fallow for many years and has started deteriorating. It was also recently damaged in a veld fire.
The R1.6-million ZCV, completed in 2004, has been a white elephant, with no maintenance taking place for many years.
The beauty of the ZCV has been swallowed by tall grass that can hide an average-sized person. The village had an outdoor theatre with changing rooms, a restaurant, and a curio / arts / craft shop. Those are bigger structures; two smaller buildings were apparently originally intended for traditional healers and a further six structures were originally intended for marketers of different crafts (bead work, pottery and many others). All the structures were in the traditional Zulu ‘beehive’ form.
The municipality has promised that the village will be revamped and utilised in a profitable manner.
Speaking to the Vryheid Herald, Municipal Manager Bonga Ntanzi said, “The National Department of Environmental Affairs has already budgeted R130 million to rehabilitate the village. The process was meant to commence in April, but unfortunately due to Covid-19, it had to be halted.” He confirmed that the department was already aware of the fire that destroyed what was left of the village and that the department was coming to assess the damage and also announce when it will commence with the rehabilitation process.
“We are already working on this project and once done, we will be able to host cultural functions in the region, for example a jazz festival and other functions. It will also be able to cater for water sport lovers, as it is near Klipfontein Dam. Water sportsmen will be able to bring their families and camp there, utilising the facilities as desired,” added Ntanzi.

Klipfontein Bird Sanctuary 
Klipfontein Bird Sanctuary resulted when sewer water was diverted into a neglected grassland in 1995, producing a small but highly productive wetland, particularly for flufftail and rail bird enthusiasts.
The Bird Sanctuary boasts with birds such as reedbed, as well as wetland birds – African rail, African crake, red-chested flufftail, a pair of grey crowned cranes that breed in the reeds, ducks in the dams, African purple swamphens in the mudflats, warblers of every description and the odd snip, heron, giant kingfisher, African fish eagle and Burchell’s coucal. There are also birds that are not associated with water – a pair of Wahlberg’s eagle, red-throated wrynecks, African firefinches and black-throated canaries.

Also read: Could a social media presence revive Vryheid tourism?

Recently raw sewer spillage has been flooding into the sanctuary, ultimately flow into Klipfontein Dam and illegal dumping has been evident as you drive-in on the gravel road. This has left many bird enthusiasts unhappy with the condition of the area.
Municipal Manger, Bonga Ntanzi has acknowledged that there has been raw sewer spillage into the sanctuary however assured that the problem was being resolved as R4million has already been spent recently to fix the pumps that causing the spillage.
“We took money from MIG as we were given a go-ahead to reprioritise that money on urgent matters. We therefore dedicated some of it into fixing the problem there. Many components at the water workers were malfunctioning causing the raw sewer to spill over into the sanctuary; we have however refurbished those pumps. It will take some time for the water in the sanctuary to be clean but I can assure you that there is no longer any sewer spillage”, confirmed Ntanzi.
He further said that he had been spearheading the cleaning up of the town project together with Chairperson of Community Service Portfolio, Mpiyakhe Hlatshwayo in order to retain the town’s former glory of being the greenest municipality in KZN and to also attract investors and tourists.
“We have been working very hard in ensuring that we revitalise the town into the greenest and cleanest town in KZN. We have also cleaned up Ntingonono at Vryheid Hill so that it remains attractive to whoever visits the area. I have scheduled a day to go back there and check the natural water source for the animals to see if it is enough.
“The clean-up project is not only focusing in town but in surrounding areas as well including eMondlo, Hlobane, Nkongolwane, Coronation, Ngonje and Bhekuzulu. We are also targeting illegal dumpsite. One of the challenges we were facing was the legal battle between the municipality and our service provider Quantum Leap, as an interim we have hired another service provider on the temporary basis to assist in the cleaning up of areas while the legal matter is proceeding with Quantum Leap.
“We need to keep our town and townships clean, especially during this Covid-19 period which requires us to be in a clean environment without any pollution. It is a battle we are fighting but we need to work together with the community to maintain our areas clean”, added Ntanzi.

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