Academic

Student-led project makes isiXhosa vocabulary easily accessible

BELINDA BANTHAM — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:18:51 +0000

Student-led project makes isiXhosa vocabulary easily accessible BELINDA BANTHAM Fri, 07/26/2024 - 15:18

Learning a new language can be fun but also challenging as you try to navigate your way through a wondrous world of novel sounds and words. Life has just become a little easier for isiXhosa learners with isiXhosa.click, a new online dictionary for isiXhosa and English.

Funded partially by the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) at the North-West University (NWU), the free, open-source and user-friendly dictionary allows users to search for a word by simply typing either the English or isiXhosa word in a search bar to show live search results.

As the user clicks on a word, they can find more information, such as examples and related words. The dictionary currently has 2 062 entries.

“isiXhosa.click is a student-led project at the University of Cape Town (UCT) that was first established as a hobby and passion project by the project team in 2021 because we felt that none of the existing isiXhosa-English dictionaries came close enough to fulfilling our vision of a free, open, community-driven and easy-to-use isiXhosa-English dictionary," says project leader Cael Marquard, who is a computer science honours student at UCT and part-time developer. The other team members are Jacob Lund, William Moultrie and Luvo Gcingca.

“All the founding members of this project studied isiXhosa as a subject up to their final year in high school, and one striking part of that experience was how limited the access to high-quality and reliable online resources was,” he recalls.

“Students studying isiXhosa must generally choose between a high-quality, professional dictionary like the Oxford English Xhosa Dictionary or the Greater Dictionary of isiXhosa, or a lower-quality, machine-generated dictionary. Both options have limitations, in that the former has all rights reserved and cannot be easily accessed or carried around as they are in print form; while the latter often has dubious or untrustworthy translations, as much of the content is machine-generated from parallel corpuses. The print editions are also prohibitively expensive and hard to get a hold of; the only way that most students will be able to use one is by borrowing a copy from a teacher or library," he explains.

Helping first-language isiXhosa patients

“This online dictionary is a living resource, subject to being updated an improved over time. It not only helps to resolve the lack of online resources but also makes the language much more easily accessible to people,” Marquard continues. “One example is our initial focus of adding healthcare-related vocabulary. Here in the Western Cape, many of the patients in hospitals are first-language isiXhosa speakers. Having these words immediately available on their phones makes it much easier for doctors to communicate with their patients.”

According to Marquard, the NWU SADiLaR funding was mainly used to pay isiXhosa honours students at UCT to upload words from an isiXhosa statistics glossary compiled by Tim Low, a senior lecturer in statistical sciences and mathematics at UCT, as well as add a few of their own words and example sentences.

Marquard and his team are grateful for the support received from SADiLaR. “I would like to extend my utmost thanks to SADiLaR and all those who have assisted me over the course of the project. The programme has allowed us to improve the site and develop crucial connections,” he says.

Crucial connections for further collaboration

“Thanks to a colloquium hosted by SADiLaR to discuss various Digital Humanities Open Educational Resources (DH-OER) projects, I had the opportunity to collaborate with another young researcher, Mthuli Buthelezi, on features relating to the site. Whilst not directly related to the grant itself, this would have not been possible were it not for the DH OER Champions initiative (offered through SADiLaR’s ESCALATOR programme)”, says Marquard.

Prof Menno van Zaanen, professor in digital humanities at SADiLaR, says he admires and appreciates what Marquard and his team have achieved.

Get involved: If you'd like to help the project, submitting new words and editing old ones would be greatly appreciated. First, you will need to create an account with the site. To do so, click the ‘Sign in with Google’ button in the top right corner. From your Google account, IsiXhosa.click will only record your email (in order for the team to email you about any issues regarding your account or the site) and your Google OpenID Connect ID (to identify you when you log in).

Engaged Scholarship Impact Indaba - a convergence of minds and ideas

BELINDA BANTHAM — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:02:00 +0000

Engaged Scholarship Impact Indaba - a convergence of minds and ideas

by Angeline Marokoane

BELINDA BANTHAM Fri, 07/26/2024 - 15:02

The Faculty of Health Sciences at North-West University (NWU) recently hosted an Engaged Scholarship Impact Indaba at the Vanderbijlpark Campus.

The dynamic one-day hybrid-event brought together community champions - including academics, community leaders, practitioners and students - to explore the potential of engaged scholarship.

Participants from various sectors shared their experiences and insights, making the Indaba an ideal platform for knowledge exchange and dialogue.

The event highlighted the critical intersections of academic research, community engagement and societal impact, showcasing how collaborative efforts can drive meaningful change. Furthermore, it offered diverse perspectives on how academic institutions can partner with communities to address pressing social issues.

“By embracing a culture of community engagement, we not only enrich our academic experiences, but also fulfil our institutional mandate to serve as agents of positive change and social responsibility,” said Prof Awie Kotze, executive dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, in his opening remarks.

“Let us embark on this journey of discovery, reflection and action together, inspired by the belief that our collective efforts can truly make a difference in the world.”

Prof Jeffrey Mphahlele, deputy vice-chancellor for research and innovation, delivered the keynote address titled “Researching for relevance and impact: NWU position.”

He emphasised the importance of supporting and collaborating with communities for mutual benefit. “Mutual benefit is the most crucial aspect. It encompasses the co-creation of knowledge and various other advantages that both the university and the community can gain. However, it goes beyond that because true engaged scholarship is not a one-way street. If the community does not take ownership of the initiatives, it becomes merely an act of giving back rather than a mutually beneficial collaboration.”

He stressed that for a genuine partnership, both the community and the researchers must take ownership of the projects.

Dr Eugene Machimana, head of Curricular Community Engagement at the University of Pretoria, delivered an insightful presentation titled "Impacting communities through curriculum dynamics: A cyclical relationship”.

He highlighted the importance of integrating community engagement into academic curricula, fostering a reciprocal relationship where both students and communities benefit from shared learning experiences.

Dr Petro Erasmus, a senior lecturer in psychology, and a community engagement champion at the NWU, shared her personal experiences in a presentation titled "Commercialising research outcomes and engaged scholarship”.

She discussed how engaged scholarship can bridge the gap between academic research and real-world applications, highlighting successful initiatives that have transformed research outcomes into practical solutions for community challenges. Her presentation underscored the potential for universities to act as catalysts for social innovation by leveraging their research capabilities.

Chevaan Reedwaan Peters, manager of Knowledge Information Systems and Marketing at Stellenbosch University, presented on "Effective information systems in ensuring sustainability, and evaluating the impact of engaged scholarship in a resource-limited ecosystem”.

He spoke on the importance of robust information systems in tracking and evaluating the long-term impact of community engagement initiatives. He outlined strategies for ensuring that engaged scholarship remains sustainable, even in environments with limited resources, and highlighted the role of data-driven decision-making to optimise social impact.

The event also featured an international perspective with Alejandra Herrero from the CLAYSS Latin American Centre for Service-Learning in Argentina. Her presentation, "Impacting communities through engaged scholarships and international networks: Experience of the Global South", provided valuable insights into how global networks can enhance the effectiveness of engaged scholarship.

Alejandra shared stories of successful partnerships across the Global South, demonstrating how international collaboration can drive positive change and foster cross-cultural understanding.

Prof Julie E Gahimer from the University of Indianapolis delivered a thought-provoking session titled "Enhancing the 21st century skills: An e-service learning toolkit of creative pedagogies”. She introduced innovative pedagogical tools designed to enhance students’ 21st century skills through e-service learning., including critical thinking, collaboration and digital literacy Her presentation highlighted the potential for creative educational approaches to empower students and prepare them for the complexities of the modern world.

Sizwe Khoza, a professional officer for engaged research at the National Research Foundation (NRF), facilitated a session on "Advancing societal and knowledge impact through the NRF’s Engaged Research Framework”. He discussed the NRF's mission to promote science and technology advancement in South Africa through its science engagement business unit, the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement.

He emphasised the importance of bridging the gap between academic research and societal needs, highlighting how the NRF's Engaged Research Framework supports initiatives that foster collaboration between researchers and communities.

Finally, Prof Ushotanefe Useh, deputy dean for community engagement and stakeholder relations in the Faculty of Health Sciences, expressed his profound gratitude and appreciation to all participants on behalf of the faculty.

The Indaba exemplified the power of collaboration and shared learning in addressing societal challenges. By fostering dialogue and partnerships between academia and communities, the event underscored the potential for engaged scholarship to drive sustainable change and improve the quality of life for communities across the globe.

The Faculty of Health Sciences’ Engaged Scholarship Impact Indaba was a great success.

Prof Jeffrey Mphahlele, the deputy vice-chancellor for research and innovation, participates virtually in the Indaba.

Prof Ushotanefe Useh, the deputy dean for community engagement and stakeholder relations in the Faculty of Health Sciences, thanks all the participants.

Celebrating the first graduates of pioneering mechatronics degree

BELINDA BANTHAM — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 08:34:49 +0000

Celebrating the first graduates of pioneering mechatronics degree

by Belinda Bantham

BELINDA BANTHAM Fri, 07/26/2024 - 10:34

The North-West University (NWU) is proud to announce the graduation of the first cohort from its innovative mechatronics degree programme, recently introduced by the Faculty of Engineering. This momentous occasion marks a significant milestone for the university.

Prof Kenny Uren from the School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, highlights the unique nature of this programme.

"The NWU is the only institution offering a mechatronics programme in the northern part of our country. This programme was largely requested by the public because mechatronics has taken the engineering industry by storm," he explains.

Prof Uren says he is very proud of the achievements of the inaugural batch of graduates and says the faculty has ambitious plans for the programme's future.

"We have a lot of plans in the pipeline – so watch this space! We are also grateful to all the automation partners and training centres we work with, whose support have been invaluable."

The success of the mechatronics programme underscores the NWU's dedication to addressing the evolving needs of the engineering industry and its commitment to fostering innovation and excellence in education.

As the university continues to expand its offerings and partnerships, it remains at the forefront of engineering education in the region, preparing graduates to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

More about the NWU’s mechatronics degree

The introduction of the mechatronics degree at the NWU has garnered substantial interest, with a growing demand for a master’s programme in mechatronics engineering.

Mechatronic engineers play a crucial role in developing and supporting the advanced industrial automation systems of the future, which leverage the Internet of Things. By combining expertise in electronics, measurement and actuation, embedded systems, and control theory, these engineers design and control mechanical structures and mechanisms. Their proficiency in computer programming and data analytics enables them to develop intelligent and effective mechatronic systems.

The NWU's commitment to providing hands-on practical experience is evident through its state-of-the-art on-campus laboratories for electronics and industrial automation.

Graduates of this programme are well-equipped for employment in various sectors, including process controls, automotive, manufacturing, medical device development, and agricultural processing.

The first group of Mechatronics graduates with Prof Liezl Van Dyk and Prof Kenny Uren

Students gain valuable insight and exposure at congress

BELINDA BANTHAM — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 06:00:04 +0000

Students gain valuable insight and exposure at congress BELINDA BANTHAM Thu, 07/25/2024 - 08:00

By Bonolo Monaisa

Students and staff from the North-West University (NWU) recently attended the 28th South African Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SBMB) Congress in Polokwane on 10 July 2024.

Hosted by the University of Venda, the congress was themed "Biochemistry Leading the Future" and attracted more than 350 delegates from around the globe.

Tsholofelo Moloi, Sinenhlanhla Mthembu, Marakia Moetlediwa and Masibulele Mdutyana were among the students in attendance.

The SBMB congress provided them with a valuable platform to showcase their research, gain exposure to the latest advancements in their field, and establish connections that could shape their future careers. The congress featured distinguished local and international guest speakers whose presentations inspired the delegates and sparked numerous insightful discussions.

"The experience was nothing short of amazing. It was very insightful, and educative. I left the conference more inspired and motivated than ever," shared Tsholofelo, who contributed to the congress by delivering an oral presentation on her project.

Masibulele echoed Tsholofelo's sentiments. “I discovered many new scientific terms and learned about the stages of drug discovery and what must happen before a plant can be used as a drug."

Dr Mashudu Matumba, a senior lecturer in biochemistry, highlighted the critical importance of such events for student development. "Participation in a congress provides opportunities for networking, exposure to cutting-edge research, and professional development. It enhances their understanding of the field, inspires new ideas and can significantly boost their academic and career prospects."

The experiences of these students, coupled with the lecturer's insights, highlight the transformative impact of such events on students' academic journeys and future careers. As the NWU continues to lead in scientific research and education, the participation of its students and academic in global platforms will remain crucial in driving forward both individual and collective success.

NWU students gained valuable insight and exposure at the recent 28th South African Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Congress.

Prof Wannie Carstens awarded prestigious prize for contributions to Afrikaans

MARELIZE SANTANA — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 10:09:39 +0000

Prof Wannie Carstens awarded prestigious prize for contributions to Afrikaans

by Bertie Jacobs

MARELIZE SANTANA Mon, 07/22/2024 - 12:09

Prof Wannie Carstens, the former director of the School of Languages at the North-West University (NWU), has been awarded the prestigious Jan H Marais Prize for his exceptional contributions to Afrikaans as a scientific language by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (the South African Academy of Science and Arts). This is in recognition of his high level and high quality of work, as well as his expert contribution to Afrikaans linguistics.

The prize money to the value of R750 000 will be presented to Prof Carstens in Stellenbosch later this year. The announcement was made by the chairperson of the selection committee, Dr Johan van Zyl, a former rector of the University of Pretoria and former CEO of Sanlam.

Prof Carstens has had an academic career bar none and his list of accomplishments includes serving as chairperson of the Afrikaanse Taalraad, chairperson of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie van Kuns en Kultuur and chairperson of the Nasionale Taalligaam vir Afrikaans, and he has also served on a variety of boards. In addition to the multitude of articles he has published, he oversaw the publication of independent books such as Norme vir Afrikaans and Afrikaanse Tekslinguistiek. Two books, Teksredaksie and Text editing, were written in collaboration with Prof Kris van de Poel from the University of Antwerp, and the latter also with John Linnegar, and have been translated into two African languages.

The 72-year-old father of three and husband to wife Wilma is still actively involved at the NWU through his work in the Unit for Languages and Literature in the South African Context.

Prof Wannie Carstens.

Multilingual Symposium will explore utilising various languages in academia

BELINDA BANTHAM — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 12:50:11 +0000

Multilingual Symposium will explore utilising various languages in academia

by Zenoyise John

BELINDA BANTHAM Fri, 07/19/2024 - 14:50

The School of Languages and the Language Directorate at the North-West University (NWU) are collaborating with the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to host a Multilingual Symposium.

This symposium, taking place on 29 August, will be the main event at the NWU’s Language Awareness Week that will take place from 26 to 30 August.

The theme for the Language Awareness Week and the symposium is "Multilingualism: Reaching new academic frontiers through linguistic resources". The purpose of these events is to encourage discussions on utilising various languages in academic settings to enhance learning and teaching.

Dr Johannes Tsietsi Mahlasela from the Language Directorate says the symposium will contribute to the implementation of the university's multilingualism policy, which encourages the use of the NWU’s four official languages in classes: Afrikaans, English, Sesotho and Setswana. He adds that the symposium will also address challenges within the fields of language and education, and the practical application of multilingualism in teaching and learning.

Featured speakers at the symposium include Prof Susan Coetzee-Van Rooy, Prof Evangeline Bonisiwe Zungu and Prof Leketi Makalela. Additionally, response speakers Prof Esther Ramani and Prof Michael Joseph will lead the discussions.

"The symposium holds great significance for the Language Directorate and the CTL as it aligns with our mission of promoting a multilingual policy, fostering language awareness, and effectively implementing the university's language strategy. This initiative is crucial in ensuring that the university's community is fully knowledgeable about and engaged in these language awareness activities," adds Dr Mahlasela.

"With the evolving nature of this field, the symposium serves as an avenue to discuss the available resources and the training needed for academics to effectively implement multilingual pedagogy. “This event will not only promote language awareness and multilingualism, but will also serve as a platform to address the practical challenges associated with implementing a multilingual policy within an academic environment," he says.

Don’t miss this event – the Multilingual Symposium will take place from 10:00 to 13:00 at the Vanderbijlpark Campus on 29 August.

SADiLaR raises global visibility from Poland to Italy

BELINDA BANTHAM — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 12:20:53 +0000

SADiLaR raises global visibility from Poland to Italy BELINDA BANTHAM Wed, 07/17/2024 - 14:20

Prof Menno van Zaanen, professor in digital humanities at the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) at the North-West University (NWU), recently spent a productive two weeks at the University of Gdańsk in Poland to conduct teaching activities and interdisciplinary research in digital humanities.

He was invited by Dr Karolina Rudnicka from the Faculty of Languages as part of the university's fourth edition of the Visiting Professors programme, which is aimed at increasing the internationalisation of education by exposing students and researchers to excellent researchers from around the world.

During his visit, Prof Van Zaanen gave two guest lectures, collaborated with students on a small joint research project, and worked with Dr Rudnicka on an interdisciplinary research publication.

“I first met Menno in May 2023 during a visit to SADiLaR where we discovered our shared research interests,” recalls Dr Rudnicka, who is an assistant professor at the Institute of Applied Linguistics within the Faculty of Languages.

“Knowing he had never been to Gdańsk or Poland, I saw an opportunity through our university's Visiting Professors programme. Menno was excited to visit, so we applied and successfully secured the funding. It was a productive and enjoyable visit for everyone,” she adds.

In his first guest lecture at the Institute of Applied Linguistics, Prof Van Zaanen shared his personal journey from computer science to digital humanities, recounting some examples of his initial research in digital humanities and highlighting the pitfalls he experienced.

For his second guest lecture, he discussed the formal means of describing natural language learning at the University of Gdańsk’s Institute of Computer Science. “My lecture was about how we can design formal models – essentially using mathematics – to describe how we can learn languages. This is mostly focused on syntax, which describes the rules of how sentences can be put together from words,” he explains

Exploring the social networks of an Oscar Wilde novel

For the small joint research project with the students, Prof Van Zaanen actively took part in the research activities and supervised the students’ outputs.

“Together with the natural language processing students, we explored the social networks (characters and their relationships) in translations of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. We compared the original English text to translations in German, Polish and Dutch, with the expectation that the social networks would be the same. However, they were not. We now need to figure out exactly why they are not the same – it could be due to computational issues, translation preferences or language preferences.”

One of the goals of the small joint research project was to present the research at a conference and publish the results in a journal. “Following a week of very focused work, we submitted abstracts to two conferences – one has already been accepted while the other is still awaiting an outcome,” says Prof Van Zaanen.

Dr Rudnicka says the students had a great time meeting Menno and collaborating with him on the joint research project. “We're still working on it with them, as they will present the results at a Young Science Congress in July, and we will also be writing the article.”

Prof Van Zaanen also made time to work on an interdisciplinary research publication with Dr Rudnicka concerning the influence of AI-powered writing assistants of the English language.

Fifth workshop on Resources for African Indigenous Languages (RAIL)

Following his visit to Poland, Prof Van Zaanen travelled to Torino, Italy, where he attended the 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024), along with SADiLaR’s digital humanities researcher in Siswati, Dr Muzi Matfunjwa.

The five-day hybrid conference brought together researchers and practitioners in computational linguistics, speech, multimodality and natural language processing, with special attention to evaluation and the development of resources that support work in these areas.

Furthermore, SADiLaR hosted the Fifth Resources for African Indigenous Languages (RAIL) workshop on the last day of the LREC-COLING 2024 conference.

The theme for this year's RAIL workshop was “Creating resources for less-resourced languages”.

“Many African languages are under-resourced. These languages often share interesting properties such as writing systems or tone, making them different from most high-resourced languages,” Prof Van Zaanen explains.

“From a computational perspective, these languages lack enough linguistic resources to undertake high-level development of Human Language Technologies (HLT) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools, which in turn impedes the development of African languages in these areas.”

He says past workshops made it clear that the problems and solutions presented are not only applicable to African languages, but also relevant to many other low-resource languages.

“Because these languages share similar challenges, this workshop provided researchers with opportunities to work collaboratively on issues of language resource development and learn from each other.”

Prof Menno van Zaanen and Dr Karolina Rudnicka.

Another academic announced as a M&G 200 Young South African

BELINDA BANTHAM — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 06:33:50 +0000

Another academic announced as a M&G 200 Young South African

by Mafumane Tlhapi

BELINDA BANTHAM Thu, 07/11/2024 - 08:33

The North-West University (NWU) boasts another winner of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans for 2024. Dr Pieter Odendaal, a senior lecturer in the subject group Creative Writing, was announced a winner in the Arts and Entertainment category.

He joins Dr Monray Williams, a senior lecturer in the subject group Biochemistry, who was announced a winner in the Science, Technology and Innovation category.

Dr Odendaal views this recognition as an affirmation of his contributions to the arts and the significance of spoken word poetry in South Africa.

“This acknowledgement has inspired me to keep chasing my dreams and creating platforms for poetry in various languages,” he says.

Dr Odendaal's journey with spoken word poetry began as an undergraduate student in Stellenbosch in 2011, where he quickly developed a deep love for the art form. Surrounded by like-minded creatives at InZync Poetry sessions, he discovered the transformative power of poetry and decided it would be a lifelong pursuit.

“Facilitating workshops, researching the social and ecological transformations poetry can bring about, and teaching creative writing at the NWU have all reaffirmed my commitment to poetry,” he explains.

In recent years, he has also ventured into theatre and, driven by his passion for storytelling in all its forms, hopes to explore the film industry.

This year, Dr Odendaal also received the South African Academy for Sciences and the Arts’ Eugène Marais Prize for poetry for his collection Ontaard. He was also nominated for the Hertzog Prize for drama for his play Droomwerk.

His collection Ontaard also landed him the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Poetry.

Dr Odendaal's message to young professionals is clear: “Life is too precarious to spend it doing something you do not love. Chase your dreams with single-minded fervour, no matter what others say, and you will be rewarded.”

Dr Pieter Odendaal was announced a winner in the Arts and Entertainment category of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans for 2024.

Is our future political economy fit for purpose?

BELINDA BANTHAM — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 09:06:11 +0000

Is our future political economy fit for purpose?

by Bertie Jacobs

BELINDA BANTHAM Tue, 07/09/2024 - 11:06

The North-West University (NWU) Business School held a think tank on Monday, 8 July, titled SA’s future economy – is it fit for purpose? Prof Piet Croucamp, political analyst and affiliate of the NWU Business School, served as moderator and the panellists comprised Prof Raymond Parsons, Wandile Sihlobo and Christo van der Rheede.

Van der Rheede has functioned in various CEO positions, including as the CEO of a Naspers-funded trust, the Small Business Institute, Agri SA and the FW de Klerk Foundation. He serves on various boards such as those of the KKNK, the ATKV, Casidra and the AgriSeta, and as adjunct professor at the School of Economic Sciences of the University of the Free State. Sihlobo is the chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of two books: A Country of Two Agricultures: The Disparities, The Challenges, The Solutions, and Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture. He is a senior lecturer extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.

Parsons is a professor at the NWU Business School and chairperson of the advisory board of the Business School. He is the author/editor of seven books and has received a number of accolades. In addition to other positions, he is also a former director-general of the SA Chamber of Business (SACOB), and until 2012 he was the deputy CEO of BUSA.

In a wide-ranging discussion, the panel examined the distrust between the private sector and the state, as well as fundamental problems in restoring this trust. Perspectives were given on how to grow South Africa’s economy in the face of poverty, unemployment and the current policy environment. Few topics regarding the country’s present economic climate were left untouched.

The think tank formed part of the MBA winter study school of the NWU Business School, which will conclude on Friday 12 July, and the week’s events include academic lectures, guest lectures, practical sessions and research meetings.

A tourism “wish list” for Minister Patrica de Lille

BELINDA BANTHAM — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 09:28:20 +0000

A tourism “wish list” for Minister Patrica de Lille

by Bertie Jacobs

BELINDA BANTHAM Thu, 07/04/2024 - 11:28

Experts advocate strategies that will make travel more affordable for South Africans facing increased living costs.

Security measures need to be enhanced by increasing visible policing and security personnel at key tourist spots.

Tax incentives for businesses that invest in tourism infrastructure and services should also be introduced, especially in underdeveloped regions.

Patricia de Lille (GOOD) has retained her portfolio as Minister of Tourism in the new Government of National Unity, and the decision has been met with praise from the acclaimed research unit Tourism Research in Economics, Environs and Society (TREES) at the North-West University (NWU).

“The tourism sector should be both happy and relieved that Minister De Lille will continue in her position,” says Prof Elmarie Slabbert, director of TREES. The minister is action-driven and highly values the opinions of both the private and public sectors, thereby creating a conducive environment for cooperation.

However, considering the political and economic challenges facing South Africa, the team at TREES compiled a “wish list” of how they propose Minister De Lille should leverage the country’s natural beauty, rich cultural heritage and unique attractions to address critical issues that will help ensure sustainable and inclusive growth in the tourism sector.

These recommendations are not the responsibility of the Department of Tourism alone, but require cooperation with other government entities.

1. Safety and security: Security measures must be enhanced by increasing visible policing and security personnel at key tourist hot spots. TREES also emphasised the need to continue implementing comprehensive safety protocols to reassure both domestic and international tourists. With regard to emergency services, there is a need to improve the availability and responsiveness of emergency services in tourist areas, including those of medical facilities and emergency hotlines.

2. Air access and airport challenges: The airport is the first encounter with the country for international visitors, emphasising the importance of service delivery. It is important to increase the number of direct flights to South Africa on a continuous basis. Long queues at passport control and baggage that cannot be booked through to the next destination do not contribute to the image of a welcoming destination. Biometric passports, automated systems and e-gates will reduce waiting times, making travel more convenient and secure.

3. Visa and travel facilitation: Visa application processes should be simplified to attract a broader range of tourists, including digital nomads. Specialised visa categories should also be developed for digital nomads, allowing them to stay and work in South Africa for extended periods, and incentives such as co-working spaces and connectivity hubs can be offered.

4. Infrastructure development: TREES says that upgrading major tourist routes and ensuring reliable public transport systems remain a priority. However, the focus should shift to improving digital infrastructure by enhancing high-speed internet access across tourist destinations to cater to the needs of modern travellers and facilitate seamless communication and access to information.

5. Growing the tourism SMMEs: A number of programmes are available for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism sector, but their growth is still limited. An incentivised mentorship programme is needed to accelerate their growth so that they can employ more people. Tax incentives for businesses that invest in tourism infrastructure and services should also be introduced, especially in underdeveloped regions.

6. Marketing and promotion: TREES proposes the integration of marketing efforts and attendance of shows that cover all the different experiences in South Africa – for example, attending the largest leisure, hunting tourism and business trade shows across the world. Capitalise further on the opportunities created by social media – a team of dedicated social media marketers will make a difference!

7. The importance of South Africans as tourism ambassadors: South Africans should understand the importance of tourists. Roadshows and awareness campaigns are needed to increase knowledge about tourism and its economic effect – we are all affected by this sector.

8. Domestic tourists are the backbone of the sector: TREES also advocates the introduction of strategies for domestic tourists to make travel more affordable for South Africans facing increased living costs. This includes offering discounts and special packages for local residents to encourage domestic tourism.

9. Research: Given the ever-changing tourism environment, the importance of research relating to demand and supply should not be underestimated. Quality research gives quality data, which gives this country the edge in making changes according to the needs of visitors and businesses contributing to the growth of the sector!