Chamber meets on important issues
Final decisions about dates and a name of a festival for Hazyview will be made later.
Visitors to the Lowveld may have much more than just the Innibos festival to enjoy next year.
A Hazyview festival in 2020 was discussed at the annual general meeting of the Hazyview Chamber of Business and Tourism (HCBT) on June 5.
About 120 people attended the meeting. It included Mbombela municipal manager Neil Diamond, president of Kruger Lowveld Tourism (KLT) Oupa Pilane, and senior representatives of municipal and provincial traffic departments.
Suggestions for a marketing strategy for the festival, as well as for the spending of a R100 000 grant from Mbombela, will be gathered through a questionnaire to members.
It was suggested that coordination with national, provincial and municipal departments and the MTPA should take place so that all tourism products could be incorporated. This includes the many popular restaurants in the area, spas, the Graskop Gorge Lift and Fairyland and the Big Swing, the Long Tom toboggan, a possible cycling route along the Kruger fence from Phabeni to Numbi, the Jock hike, waterfall hikes, fishing, birding, the Matumi Trail, the reptile park, flights over the area and more.
Final decisions about dates and a name of the festival will be made later.
The traders next to the R40 were one of the main issues discussed. Chairman Chris Harvie mentioned negotiations for permanent markets as well as the lack of by-laws or enforcement. “We would love for Hazyview to become famous in the way we handle these hawkers,” he said.
In return, Diamond emphasised the need to respect the right of informal traders to make a living, but conceded that current by-laws were outdated. He said Mbombela was in the process of adopting new ones, including those regulating informal traders.
He also admitted the necessity of a by-law enforcement officer for the town.
Harvie announced that plans to establish a City Improvement District (CID) for Hazyview were delayed, since they were waiting for legal processes in other CIDs to be resolved.
Signage, or the lack thereof, in and around the town also received attention. Harvie explained that most complications regarding roads and signage arise from roads in town being the responsibility of either national, provincial or municipal entities.
A discussion followed around the successful removal of some corrupt traffic officers in Hazyview. Mr Loti Mabuza was congratulated on his progress in this regard. He in turn thanked the members for their help in reporting cases and encouraged them to continue to report such incidents.
Twin City was lauded for assisting HCBT with the removal of road disruptions by taxis near Lowveld Mall, and members reminded that permanent solutions are reached only through the correct channels.
