NELSPRUIT – The year started on a high note for local businesses when the area experienced a massive cash injection last week during the visit by the ANC’s national executive council and thousands of ANC supporters.
The political party was in town to officially present its manifesto for the national and provincial elections later this year to the public.
The presentation by president Mr Jacob Zuma at Mbombela Stadium on Saturday saw ANC supporters and business people eyeing an opportunity to make money, flock to the city.
Ms Linda Grimbeek, manager of finance and visitor information centres at the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KLCBT), called it the biggest event Nelspruit has ever seen. “It was bigger than the World Cup in 2010,” she said.
According to Grimbeek, the chamber was contacted by visitors from out of town to help them find accommodation, and since the city’s accomodation was fully booked by Friday, people had to settle for lodging as far afield as Komatipoort and Malalane.
A caretaker of a residential complex in Riverside, Ms Rika de Bruyn, said latecomers were so pressed for accommodation that she increased the asking price in the two guest houses located in the complex from R1 500 per night to R2 500. One man even offered to pay double that if only she would kick out the guests already housed there.
According to Ms Anneke Pienaar, manager of Road Lodge Nelspruit, they did not increase their prices. The hotel was fully booked in advance for the weekend. Pienaar pointed out that overall business was better during the Orange Afcon Tournament, which Nelspruit co-hosted at the beginning of last year, because it was over a longer period.
Mr Roelf Kotze, stadium manager at Mbombela Stadium, explained that attendance at the stadium with the president’s presentation reached 53 000, because people were allowed onto the pitch of the 43 000-seat capacity stadium. He explained that the stadium’s tariff models differ from event to event.
In this case, the ANC rented the stadium, to which entry was free, for the day at a set price which went almost directly into the stadium’s coffers since their overheads were minimal. “The ANC provided security at the event themselves, costs we usually cover,” he said. The party even helped to clean up afterwards and covered the full costs of renting pitch covers from the FNB Stadium in Soweto.
The masses being bussed in from outside Nelspruit also injected money elsewhere. Mr Johan Breytenbach, co-owner of Rooikat Liquor Group in Stinkhout Cresent which also supplies taverns with alcohol, estimated its turnover was roughly double that over a regular weekend.
“We had a lot of walk-ins due to the buses stopping here on their way to the rugby club (behind Crossing Centre).”
Breytenbach noted that considering the huge influx of people in the area,they were very well behaved. “Often, people become aggressive when they drink, but the weekend’s visitors were very calm.”
Yet, to determine the precise magnitude of the economic impact resulting from the extra feet and purses last week, would take some time.
Mr Joseph Ngala, spokesman for Mbombela Local Municipality, said the municipality would conduct an impact study in view of the magnitude of the event and in line with the IDP project of surveys to be conducted on economic development.
“These kind of studies and processes usually take months to complete and are usually preceded by inter-alia processes, data collection, data analysis and integration and reporting,” he explained. A report will be made public when this process has been completed.
