Mutshamaxitulu, Holobye wa Ndzawulo ya swa Vupfhumba, Xandla xa Holobye, vatirhikolorhi, vayeni va hina ndza mi xeweta. [Chairperson, Minister of Tourism, Deputy Minister, colleagues and our guests, I greet you.]
Allow me to quote former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani who said, "When the right person is the leader, he does even better during tough times." I say this by way of thanking the President for leading us in the campaign on HIV counselling and testing.
Ndzi khensa vamanana va Afrika Dzonga, ngopfu va ANC Women's League, lava nga lwela mhaka yo famba hi tipasi laha loko u nga ri na pasi a wu nga koti ku vhaka. A wu tsandzeka na ku ya ezoo ya Pitori u ri karhi u tshama eMamelodi kumbe ePhelindaba.
Namuntlha hi kota ku famba hi ya fika eN'walungu hi nga chavi ku khomiwa. Namuntlha vantshwa va hina va kota ku famba va ya ematikweni yo hambana va ya cina "diski dance". Hi khensa vamanana lava hi ku tiyisela ka vona. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[I would like to thank the South African women, in particular those from the ANC Women's League, who fought against the pass laws in terms of which you could not travel without carrying a pass document. You could not even go to Pretoria zoo, despite living in Mamelodi or Pelindaba.
Today we are able to travel up north without fear of being arrested. Our youth today are able to go to various countries to perform the diski dance. We are indebted to these women's determination.]
Tourism has become one of the world's top job creators, providing 75 million direct jobs worldwide. It drives the viability of many small and medium enterprises. Tourism also provides fast entry into the workforce, particularly for women and the youth.
The President said in his state of nation address, and I quote: "We need to invest in our youth to ensure a skilled and capable workforce to support growth and job creation." Capacity-building and training are very important in achieving the goal of making sure that there is effective tourism growth and that in the industry service excellence takes centre stage.
Only proper training will ensure that the various opportunities in the industry are professionalised and made attractive to the vast majority of young people. In this way, the domestic and international tourism industry in the country will grow.
The President, in his state of the nation address, said further, "We must also increase the number of youth who enter learnerships in the private and public sectors." Capacity-building will ensure that human capital is effectively managed to grow a service-oriented, world-class tourism industry and this can be done by focusing on professionalising tourism guides and other operators in the industry and improving service levels and customer satisfaction.
Therefore, it is encouraging that in line with the tourism development mandate, 20 000 volunteers were trained in the "Know your Country, Know your City" programme for the 2010 World Cup. Sixty-four unemployed tourism graduates were placed at Canada's Ritz-Carlton Hotel and 32 young people were placed with a South African hotel group for management training purposes, while 120 tourist guides were trained in other languages, including French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.
Vanhu loko va tirhe swa kahle va khensiwa. ANC yi khensa vukosi bya Royal Bafokeng eNorth West loko va tekile vantshwa ku ya leteriwa hi mitirho ya swa hotela. Va ta kota ku ya tirha eka hotela leyi nga akiwa laha ku nga ta tshama vatlangi va bolo va England. Hi ri eka n'wina mi nga vuli mi ku 'if I was there' va na kona leswaku u ta vona hotela ya manyunyu leyi nga kona eNorth West. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraph follows.)
[People should be commended when they have done something good. The ANC would like to thank the chieftainship of the Royal Bafokeng in the North West for putting the youth into hotel and hospitality training programmes. They will be able to work in the newly-built hotel where the England national soccer team will be hosted. We urge you not to miss out on viewing the five star hotel in the North West so that you do not regret it later by saying "if I was there".]
The Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Education and Training Authority has managed to conduct a number of workshops in six provinces in a mission to ensure that provincial skills development and training needs were included in the sector skills plan. The training conducted by Theta included unemployed graduates and was aimed at providing the scarce skills needed by the sector.
The general outcry is that all the initiatives do not reach the rural communities. Minister, we hope that you will deal with this problem. At the exposition, the Deputy Minister of Tourism said, and I quote:
We are bringing the tourism industry closer to the education sector to ensure that our training and education system produces the exact knowledge and skills needed by the industry. This is the only way to ensure that tourism, our new gold, has a solid and relevant skills base for continued future growth.
I am confident that if a comprehensive service excellence training programme, targeting management and staff within the tourism value chain, is implemented, the objectives in the state of the nation address of promoting an inclusive economy to create job opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme, of increasing training and skills development, and of supporting SMMEs will be well served.
This budget will allow the competitiveness of the tourism industry to be assured by, amongst other things, implementing service quality assurance, creating adequate capacity to effectively service the needs of the industry, particularly in light of the 2010 Fifa World Cup and its potential to secure visitors and have them return if they have a positive experience of the event.
South Africa can be positioned as a leading destination in terms of service excellence by rolling out service excellence training for front-line service staff in the sector.
People on the ground should feel the implementation of the strategy by the department, in order for us to say that the 2010 Fifa World Cup has left a real and sustainable legacy for this sector and for its strategic positioning beyond this sporting event.
We will do oversight functions with vigour and honesty, and we do trust that working together the Department of Tourism will respond with diligence and respect.
In conclusion, I wish to quote President Jacob Zuma, who said in the run-up to the 2009 general elections:
Lasting victory over poverty and hunger requires the creation of decent work opportunities and sustainable livelihoods. Education must be the centre of our efforts to improve the potential of every citizen and enable each one of us to play a productive role in building our nation.
The ANC supports the Tourism Budget Vote. Inkomu. [Thank you.] [Applause.]