By Mike Loewe Grahamstown Correspondent
TOURISM town Alicedale was alive with possibility before the arrival today of President Thabo Mbeki and a large entourage of ministers, officials, security and members of his International Investment Council for a three-day conference.
The arrival of the President‘s entourage, along with his powerful business friends who sit on the advisory council, heralds immediate benefits for the former economically and socially withered railway junction dorp. The Alicedale town hall has been rebuilt and sources in the town said they viewed it a “gift” from business and the President.
In recent years, the town has been revitalised and repositioned for tourism with the construction of the Bushman Sands Hotel, with its Gary Player-designed 18-hole golf course, a 192-plot secure golfing estate, and various other tourism-related projects, which have brought jobs, change and hope to the picturesque valley. After the hotel was built and the golf estate plots sold like hot cakes, the project entered a slow period, especially following the fall from power of Eastern Cape economic affairs MEC Enoch Godongwana, who originally engineered the joint rand-for-rand government-private sector venture.
While golfers have enjoyed the course, building on the golfing estate has been limited to a handful of homes, with a third up for resale.
However, Shamwari owner Adrian Gardiner has continued to play a pivotal local role and has continued to actualise the original vision of rural socio- economic transformation of an Eastern Cape backwater.
Gardiner said yesterday that for the trade and industry department to choose Alicedale as its venue for the event “means they are obviously very happy with the venue and the work done in redeveloping a rural town into a tourist destination”.
“We feel privileged and proud that our venue has been chosen. It is a special event to host the President and Deputy President and we are sure they will enjoy our hospitality. We want to offer a taste of rural South Africa.”
He viewed the visit as “an endorsement of work we, as a rural town with a 96 per cent unemployment rate, have done”. Gardiner said Alicedale was a case study for the rest of South Africa in stopping the flood of rural people to cities where there was no work and no housing.
Bushmans Sands chief executive officer Danie Malan said banks and businesses had contributed to an extensive rebuilding and refurbishment of the previously derelict town hall, which will be used for banquets and entertainment tonight and tomorrow night.
mloewe@johnnicec.co.za