16 Dec 2019

Lobatse legislator, Dr Thapelo Matsheka says government should consider earmarking Lobatse for the promotion of heritage tourism.

Debating the State-of-the-Nation Address, Dr Matsheka said Lobatse had a lot to offer and contribute to the tourism industry due to its natural landscape and heritage sites.

Dr Matsheka observed that heritage and cultural tourism was one of the fastest emerging competitive niche tourism segments internationally.

He said government should diversify the tourism industry from wetlands and safari to heritage site visiting which Lobatse had in abundance.

“The popularity of tourism in Botswana has been linked with the bush experience, because of the fauna and flora that define Botswana, where tourists can enjoy the big five in a plethora of public and privately owned nature reserves,” he said.

Despite being the first place in Botswana to have a tarred road with  five-kilometre tarmac road, Dr Matsheka said Lobatse was a historic town that hosted African liberation icons such as Samora Machel and Nelson Mandela.

He said it was in Peleng west where one could find a monument which enclosed the house that the late Mr John Kgaboesele accommodated President Machel during the fight for the liberation of Mozambique, while the late President Mandela’s monument could be found at Mr Fish Keitseng’s residence in Peleng.

He said it was imperative to link the historical sites in Lobatse by redoing the route or tourist trails and opening appropriate recreational facilities to support such heritage sites visits thus creating avenues for SMMEs to trade and service tourists.

He stated that the inclusion of such sites into Gaborone conference itinerary would also unleash greater opportunities in Lobatse.

Dr Matsheka emphasised the role of tourism in economic development saying the tourism sector had linkages across the economy and represented the single largest contributor to income and employment creation.

He said the proposition of Lobatse being a heritage tourism centre was a primary catalyst for the revitalisation of Lobatse as it had the greatest potential to absorb a large number of unemployed youth. He stated that the rehabilitation of the old Lobatse quarry for recreation climbing could also attract more activities into the town and fit perfectly into the envisaged heritage tourism Master Plan.

Further, Dr Matsheka noted the strong link between land use and tourism development as well as economic activities adding that the Lobatse revitalisation plan opened opportunities for the development of Lobatse.

“Lobatse is surrounded by farms, therefore government initiative to unlock value in farmlands presents an opportunity for employment creation as it also allows private farm owners to set up health restaurants and build limited rooms to cater for tourism hence promoting farm tourism,” he said.

With regard to the Botswana Meat Commission, Dr Matsheka highlighted that the commission remained an integral part of Lobatse as the core of the beef sector.

He thus applauded government efforts to reform the beef industry through the BMC transition bill to accelerate privatisation and liberalisation of the beef sector.

He said the Milk Africa dairy farm in association with other farmers provided a great opportunity for upcoming farmers to share capacity and promote the supply of raw milk. Ends