Local Chamber wants to make town great again

The Soutpansberg Chamber of Commerce is dusting off their image and re-inventing themselves as a dynamic organisation set on making Louis Trichardt great again.

This year, their main drive will be building partnerships and creating a platform for collaboration with local government departments to improve service delivery and the water supply, to provide better roads and support anti-corruption initiatives. A huge drive is also under way towards improving tourism to the area, with the Makhado Tourism Centre to act as catalyst for promoting the region’s tourist attractions.

The first baby steps in achieving this goal were given last Thursday evening when the chamber hosted an information evening in conjunction with the Department of Economic Development (LED) and the Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA).

In attendance was Ms Lulama Tshabalala from the LTA executive for tourism and marketing. She was very excited about the Chamber’s request to partner with the LTA, not only to assist business but also to promote local tourism. “Yes, you are businesspeople and you are in it for profit, but more than anything, the people who benefit most are the inhabitants of this province or the inhabitants of this town. If we’ve got good business in this town, we will have less crime, we will feed more mouths and we will get more feet coming into the town,” said Tshabalala.

She said, however, that a change was needed in the mentality and the perception that people have around the government and government's not delivering. She pledged that she would be the person who brought about change. “So, we are going to do things differently as government and we are going to work together with the industry. Remember, we are just facilitators. You are the ones who are driving the business, but unless we enable you and make things possible for the businesspeople to grow the economy of the town, province and country, we are going nowhere as a country. It reflects on each one of us,” said Tshabalala.

To assist the Chamber in making Louis Trichardt great again, Tshabalala said the Chamber was welcome to use the tourism information centre. “This is where we are going to work from. I know we come from different spheres of business, but I believe that in the sphere I come from, which is tourism, we are parasites. We nibble on each sector of business. Where there is a business sector, tourism will find its way. If that business sector fails, that means tourism is dead. So therefore, we are here as the Limpopo Tourism Agency. We are saying this is your home,” said Tshabalala.

Ms Kylie Henn from the Chamber’s tourism arm added to Tshabalala’s enthusiastic support. “Like Lulama said, we are parasites. When the tourism industry is booming, everything else does and visa versa,” said Henn.

Henn gave guests a brief overview of what the Chamber has planned for the year. “This year, we are going to stick together. This year is the year for change. As you can see, we’ve established a new relationship with LTA, LED and here we are – at the information centre, the heart of this town,” said Henn.  

Henn again emphasised the importance of partnerships. “It is often difficult to spot possibilities, but it is so easy when sticking together. If we share information as a collective in this area, we can make sure that everyone flourishes, in every sector. That is the reason why we wanted to change a few things this year, making things new and exciting. People are people and you tend to go into a negative energy, but once you water something with positive energy, something positive will grow out,” said Henn. She specifically referred to the Chamber’s new website to share information. “We had tremendous help from Natasha Mostert with the new website. It’s very exciting and interactive, and as you will see here tonight, this is where we are going to share information. If you need some information, the website is the go-to place. The tourism information centre is the go-to place,” said Henn.

Mostert then gave guests a brief overview of the new website. “It will be a dynamic website that changes all the time ... a platform for cooperation,” said Mostert. Some of the new website features include an events section, chamber initiatives and business directory. “Jaco [Voigt, chairman of the Chamber] has been sourcing a lot of opportunities that are out there. So, we have business opportunities and funding opportunities listed on the website. The Chamber is also looking at offering a service to the business community to assist in securing opportunities and funding,” Mostert said. (The Chamber’s new website, www.scbt.co.za, will go live within the next week).

The meeting was concluded by the LTA’s Dr Mavhungu Musitha. He thanked all who heeded the call to assemble. “Together we can push ourselves forward. It depends on our attitude. It depends on what we think and articulate. The theme about everything we talked about tonight is partnerships and collaborations. The tourism centre has been made available to you, so the question is, what are you going to do?” Musitha said. He urged the chamber to compile a business plan that can be handed to the CEO of the Limpopo Tourism Agency. “This will define what everyone will do. Let’s make our town great! It is up to us, the residents, of this town. This town is not great, it is small. Let us feed it and let’s make it grow. Let’s make sure that this town becomes attractive, instead of seeing people leaving. We’ve seen our friends immigrate to New Zealand and Australia. Let’s create a new image for our town … You took a decision to attend this meeting, so let us work together. There is unity in power and power in unity,” Musitha said.

For more information about the chamber and how to get involved, phone Henn at Tel 079 427 6333.

* The aim of the evening was not only to highlight the chamber’s aims for 2017, but also to give an update on the proposed Musina/Makhado R44 billion Special Economic Zone. This update was given by Mr Lance Fenn (Infrastructure, Planning and Implementation Manager for Musina/Makhado SEZ, working on contract basis to LEDA).

Date:26 March 2017

By: Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

Read: 2637