Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda has informed Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Barbara Rwodzi to look for another term to replace ’’ Township Tourism‘’ arguing that it has a stigma from the pre-independence.
Mudenda made the remark during a plenary session at the pre-budget seminar in Bulawayo at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) grounds a few weeks ago. Watch video HERE
‘’…I think you need to change the name (Township Tourism), at independence, we removed the idea of township. We spoke of western surbubs right, township is archaic it has got a stigma, township for africans, township for black people,’’ he said.
Rwodzi tried to defend the name arguing that it comes from the United Nation, and that the whole world uses them.
‘’Honourable Speaker Sir, for these terms that we call our tourism sector with, its not our creation, its United Nation creations. You also have township tourism in America, they are just saying we need to promote enjoyment for those people who cannot afford to go to the high end, and what do we call it,’’ she said.
However, Mudenda was having non of that and insisted that it should be changed to a name that originated from Zimbabwe.
‘’Low end tourism, it doesnt mean what the Americans do, we therefore copy and paste. Lets be original ourselves call it by another name not township, no,’’ he insisted.
According to Minister Rwodzi, when people come together to have fun and eat food, that counts as Township Tourism, giving examples of kwaMereki in Harare.
‘’Township Tourism is a coming together of people in a towship area and having fun, either eating food an example is KwaMereke, what happens there is township tourism. In Bulawayo we have a place that last year when we had Sanganai/Hlanganani we took our internationals there, they do gotchi gotchi, so its put together with gastronomy,’’ she said.
The minister also added that ‘’there is also another form of township tourism like what we want to do in Highfields. We are combining with ministry of war veterans because we want people to come and go into Robert Mugabe’s house, go into (Leopold) Takawira’s house, and (Josiah) Tongogara’s house where we put artifacts and our history and after that they enjoy the food and enjoy the music and then go to their hotels, that is township tourism.’’
Township Tourism aims to stimulate local economies in marginalized areas by creating jobs and business opportunities for residents, such as tour guides and local vendors. It provides a space for visitors to learn about local life and culture directly from residents, fostering a deeper understanding of the post-independence life of the country.
