House Chairperson, in response to the question that has been posed, the National Tourism Sector Strategy, NTSS, has proposed institutional arrangements to be put in place in all spheres of government with a view to guiding municipalities.
The national Department of Tourism co-ordinated a number of workshops in provinces which were attended by municipalities to share best practices in regard to coordination. In the workshops working models were shared by various provinces.
The subject of co-ordination was also raised as an agenda item at the recent Local Government Tourism Conference, where a best-case scenario was shared.
The department is now working with provinces to establish provincial tourism fora which are constituted of provincial tourism departments, authorities and municipalities in order to ensure support to regional and local tourism organisations. I thank you.
Chairperson, Deputy Minister, thank you for your answer. You have indicated that in order to ensure the continued growth of the sector, one of the strategic key priorities must be creating a conducive environment for sustainable growth. What does this mean in practical terms?
Chairperson, in terms of the National Tourism Sector Strategy we had to look into areas of actual growth. That is, growing further tourism in order to contribute to economic development and creating the much needed jobs. We have identified several areas in which to grow tourism. In those areas there are strategies and implementation plans that are already being implemented as part of our action plan for this year. Thank you very much.
Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, how are the regional tourism bureaus empowered to requisite local industry skills and other scientific and research development skills that will strategically and aggressively promote local as well as state-of-the-art tourism information? How will they at the same time offer co-ordination and co-operation with other government arms as an essential service in providing overall one-stop shop government and tourism information centres? I thank you.
Chair, as I indicated earlier on, in regard to the provincial fora we are establishing, we are seeking to reach out to all levels so that there will be participation at the provincial, regional and local levels in order that the agenda and planning for local tourism growth and development is enhanced.
At the recent tourism conference that we held in February this year, we also launched a Tourism Development and Growth Support Programme, which seeks to empower local municipal officials in order for them to be able to plan regarding issues of tourism, as well as market products within their areas. This is in addition to the various tourism information centres that we have all over the country. Thank you.
Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, it is all very well for a strategy to have tourism bills at local government level, but you will know that in many instances local municipalities cannot fulfil their service delivery functions due to mismanagement and lack of funds. Therefore, will the national department transfer funds to local government to set up tourism bureaus? I thank you. [Interjections.]
Chair, I hope the hon member is perhaps referring to by-laws at local government level.
So far, the good start that we have had has flowed from the conference that we held, which provided a great platform for dialogue amongst all the stakeholders, ensuring that our private and public sectors are able to identify their key role in local government as well as in tourism.
We have been looking at how we can develop more partnerships between local government and the private sector, which will stimulate tourism growth at the local government level. That in itself, added to the forums we are setting up at local government level, will, we hope, find ways to empower local government to have the necessary by-laws that will assist in ensuring that they have a special focus on tourism, which we believe is one of the backbones of economic development at local government level. Thank you.
Chair, Deputy Minister, on p 53 the NTSS clearly outlines the concurrent responsibilities and institutional arrangements of the four spheres of government, if we include the district councils. The various interprovincial and local government forums don't seem to be working. Many municipalities lack capacity, resulting in poorly marketed and packaged destination information at their tourist information centres. There is also duplication, which I keep harping on, in regard to advertising at the various levels. Clearly these forums need to be reconsidered.
Therefore, Deputy Minister, would you not consider your department taking over these information bureaus or visitor centres, as they are called in the affected municipalities, to ensure quality services, proper packaging, and uniform marketing and branding of our tourist destinations to avoid duplication and wasteful expenditure of scarce resources?
Chairperson, the hon member is aware that if we talk about concurrent function, we are also talking about respect for the various spheres of government. However, there has been more integration and working together across the spheres of government, which we think will be instrumental in ensuring that we are able to minimise the misspending of resources or their not being used to achieve more of what we want to do.
The empowerment programme that we have introduced at local government level in collaboration with local government officials, we think, is going to assist municipalities to be able to plan better and to put into their integrated development plans focused attention on tourism.
As indicated earlier on, the visitor information centres that we have at various points throughout the country serve to provide a one-stop shop for information that visitors require, as they move into the various centres showcasing our attractions.
We also need to maintain our respect for the fact that regional tourism organisations, as well as local tourism organisations, should remain competent at their respective levels. For us it means working together, and empowering and learning from each other. There are municipalities and cities that are doing very well. As part of our national programme we are working together closely at Minmec level, where we have a marketing working group which also assists in ensuring that all our structures find ways of working together in marketing the products that we as a country have. Thank you.
Punitive steps against contravening parties in meat industry
139. Mr S Z Ntapane (UDM) asked the Minister of Trade and Industry:
Whether, with reference to the recent finding that some meat products contain traces of donkey, water buffalo and other foreign meat products, he intends to take punitive steps against the parties in the meat industry who have been found to have contravened the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, Act 68 of 2008; if not, why not; if so, (a) when and (b) what are the further relevant details?