the abm and culture, eventing and tourism - durban context (the itrump abm) ... culture, eventing,...

AREA BASED MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY

CASE STUDY: CULTURE AND EVENTING

Prepared for:Collin Pillay

ABMD Programme OfficeeThekwini Municipality

McINTOSH XABA AND ASSOCIATESPO Box 61221Bishopsgate

Durban4008

[email protected]

November 2007

Contents1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 2 Context (the iTrump ABM) ..................................................................................... 2 3 Situational Analysis ................................................................................................ 4 4 Context (The INK ABM) ........................................................................................ 16 5 Situational Analysis ............................................................................................... 16 6. Learning Areas .................................................................................................... 34 7. Recommendations for a Realignment of Interventions ..................................... 37

1 Introduction

Culture, Eventing, and Tourism are promoted by the iTrump and INK ABMs for a number of reasons.

Both the iTrump and INK ABMs see culture, events and tourism as tools or rather the means to regenerate the urban environment, change the uses of public spaces into more productive enterprises that support new and varied kinds of cultural and recreational activities that purposefully link into and support local economic development initiatives. A wider and more profound ambition is that in the process of consulting with stakeholders, implementing policies, generating economic and social activities and making links with new partners, a respect for diversity is encouraged out of which a new sense of citizenship and identity within the localities and the metropolitan municipality as a whole will emerge. In short, the question of citizenship turns on the question of ‘how to make eThekwini an inclusionary city by dealing with an exclusionary history’ (Dobson, R. interview, June 2007).

It is always difficult to define culture (Williams, R. 1983). In the most common uses of the word it refers to art, crafts, the exotic aspects of people’s way of life such as rituals, beliefs and practices, or notions of high culture such literature (the written word in the form of books, novels, plays, poetry), paintings, sculpture, film etc. But culture can also mean the everyday practices and ways of life of a people. This descriptive definition suggests that culture is something that humans create and change according to the circumstances and situations that they find themselves in. In this case study, the notion of culture refers to the everyday lives, and practices of people, but the emphasis is on the way in which changes are taking, or have taken place that give greater voice to people’s public ideas and practices and the way in which various strategies and tactics are employed within the framework of laws, rules and regulations of society that expands and builds that freedom. Thus, we speak of a cultural change engendered by the process of consultation that allows greater freedom to pursue livelihoods strategies. One may speak of a culture that is less confrontational and exclusionary of certain groups of people, that is more consultative and inclusionary, incorporating new people coming into the city to claim and assert their rights as citizens. Thus to be able to visit museums and art galleries, and create artefacts to be exhibited, or sell one’s wares on the street, albeit within the law, is not just a cultural expression, but also a public cultural practice.

Area Based Case Study ReportCulture and Eventing

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2 Context (the iTrump ABM)

In the case of the inner city, the supporting of cultural events and tourism related projects by iTrump (Inner eThekwini Regeneration and Urban Management Programme) is fulfilling their mandate to regenerate the urban centre and to incorporate and promote new activities or uses around urban spaces.

The components of this urban regeneration are: Installing new infrastructure Re-construction or redesigning of sites and places

The components of promoting new activities and uses of urban spaces are: Being inclusive – accepting and incorporating new people into the city Providing the framework in which people can carry out new kinds of

activities Trading Cultural activities Events – sport, leisure, recreation

Maintaining and promoting health and safety Adherence to the rule of law

2.1 Culture and Urban Regeneration: Inserting a Culture of Engagement, Dialogue and Participation

A single thread that runs through all the iTrump’s work on supporting cultural events and tourism in the city is engaging with stakeholders through a process of discussion and where necessary ensuring their participation. iTrump is the oldest of the ABMs in the city, but when it started in 2001 there were no established or clearly formulated rules or procedures that could be followed or models as how to proceed.

On the first issues that the iTrump had to deal with were street traders. Street trading is not new to Durban, or unique, but in the late 20th century represented a complete change in the usage of the city. Although the measures that excluded black people from the inner city had long passed from the statute books (1986), it was only in the 1990s that black people, including foreign Africans, began to dominate the city centre both in terms of accommodation and making a living through informal trading. Informal trading mainly took the form of trading on the streets and often, in the past, evinced a confrontation between owners of formal retail businesses and informal street traders. There were other serious effects that manifested themselves: waste was left on streets which posed a health


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hazard, the pavements became overcrowded, often spilling on to the streets and at times too many people trading with the same goods with hardly a difference in quality or price. However, the city council took the unprecedented step of not prohibiting trading on the street, but rather sought to control and regulate it, especially since its own commissioned research estimated that such trading made a significant contribution to the city’s local economy. It was left to the iTrump ABM to oversee a process whereby street trading could be regulated. The iTrump engaged in a serious consultative process with street traders.

Undertaking a participant observation research process Speaking to street traders Getting them to organise themselves to represent themselves Negotiating over issues such as street permits, fees and allocation of

trading sites.

This process produced a regulated informal street trading arrangement, allowed for both pedestrians and street traders to use public access routes, and over time an acceptance by formal retail businesses that such people and their small, often survivalist trading, is here to stay. One significant outcome of this process was that street traders themselves were organised to deal with crime. The ABM assisted street traders to defend themselves by arranging workshops for them to be trained in making citizen arrests instead of the usual meeting out ‘an informal and rough justice’ by assaulting any criminal who was so foolish to attempt to rob a street trader. This action also ingratiated themselves with the formal retail traders who now accepted them as part of the business environment. Indeed over time a very productive and collegial relationship between formal and informal trader developed.

What was the significance of the informal trader with a particular set of new activities in a public space? There were several important consequences:

The colonial image of (highly regulated, colonial master-servant relationships) a ‘white’ inner or core city was challenged and overturned.

A new form of activities was incorporated into the everyday cultural practices of the city, where informal traders are considered part of the cityscape.

A sense of rights and responsibilities was introduced into the public discourse.

A spirit of public voluntarism introduced by informal traders took root - the combating of crime through their own organised efforts.

From the point of view of the ABM this was a turning point, a success in engagement, rather than confrontation. Their intervention into the debates about informal traders produced a significant model of how to interact with the new migrants to the city centre:

Consultation, negotiation and participation became key strategies towards evolving a new policy on informal trading


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A new segment of civil society was included into the city – in practical terms the street traders became a significant part of the planning process.

Informal traders became an organised and institutionalised representative body that could speak and act on behalf of individuals.

It produced a set of rights and responsibilities of a particular segment of the whole society

A forum was initiated in which to consult and discuss problems and issues.

In short, there was a turn away from colonial reference points of exclusivity to a cultural practice of inclusiveness. For the iTrump ABM such practices illustrated the main elements of a model that could be used to take on new projects for upgrading and regenerating the urban inner city. But it must be noted that while the iTrump ABM in principle assisted in making the city more inclusive, the practice did not extend to all equally. As one official noted, there is a kind of informal hierarchy among informal traders and the permit issuing authorities as to who gets preference for a space on the pavement to trade. First come the Zulus, then other black South Africans, followed by other South Africans and then all the foreigner African traders. While the street traders represented a challenge in dealing with one manifestation of new users and their activities in the inner city, it did not directly highlight initiatives for investing in the infrastructure of the built environment that allows for new cultural practices to flourish.

3 Situational Analysis

3.1 Badsha Peer

The annual celebrations around Badsha Peer by a segment of the Muslim population in the city highlights:

The possibility of co-operation and acceptance of cultural diversity. The creation of a built environment with multiple uses.

The tomb of Badsha Peer in the West Street Cemetery is an area with a dense network of informal traders. All informal traders who hold a permit to trade in the street along side the tomb are informed that a condition of their permit is that for two weeks of the year there is an annual Muslim celebration that takes place and that they would have to cease trading for this period. This agreement was brokered by the iTrump ABM. While this in itself was a remarkable accord that respected the diversity of belief systems, and fostered co-operation and tolerance, it also illustrates the role the ABM played in building structures that can protect against inclement weather used for both trading and celebrations. This theme of diversity, often muted or stereotyped in the work of the


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Tomb of Badsha Peer, West Street Cemetery

(Photo: S. Vawda)

municipality, re-emerges in other cultural events in the city, some of which has been sponsored by the iTrump ABM.

3.2 The Music School’s Street Festival of Music

One of the events that have had the consistent support of the iTrump ABM is the annual Music School’s street festival. The ABM was not involved in the initial year of the Music School’s street music festival, but did become involved in subsequent years. The partnership that evolved between the ABM and the Music School was one based on a mutual aim of uplifting the area by giving a feel of vibrancy and developing the area as a cultural node. Now the iTrump began to think of the city as made up of strategic sectors or nodes of activities, ultimately linked to the city’s vision of a better life for all those who lived in it.

To implement the idea of halting and uplifting the slow decline of the inner city area of Albert Park/Russell Street/St Andrews Street the Music school decided in 2002 to put on a street concert. After obtaining all the relevant permissions from various departments, the Music School from among its own students formed an orchestra, and invited others to join in. Among those that came to play and enjoy a day of music were the South African Defence Force Band, and various others from the community and elsewhere. The street music concert stated at 10am, and soon turned into a street party ending at 4pm. Following the success of the street concert another was organised for 2003.


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The Durban Music School, Dikonia Street (formerly St Andrews Street)

(Photo: Durban Music School)

The Durban Music School: A Short HistoryThe new Durban Music School opened in January 2001, thanks to the action of Werner Dannewitz and other music teachers, together with Operation Jumpstart (KZN Lotto) who purchased and funded the renovations of the historic building at 21 St Andrews Street. Built in 1964, it was the former residence of the Governor of Natal in 1876.

In 1997 after the withdrawl of funds for music education in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), the existing Durban Music and Ballet School was closed, the entire staff retrenched and music education was almost lost to the Province.

The present principal, Werner Dannewitz, a renowned clarinettist, teacher and conductor of the KwaZulu-natal Youth Wind Band, together with this team of teachers were desperately tying to keep youth music alive in KZN.

Many months and problems later, their dream took shape. In 2003 Cell-C (the mobile phone company) made a commitment to sponsor the Durban Music School’s running costs for two years or until the school becomes self-funding.

The KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of KwaZulu-Natal have welcomed the creation of the Music School to develop and harness talented young musicians in the city.


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The Mission of the Durban Music School is: To provide the highest level of professional music training to all students and

to foster a spirit of excellence in performance in all activities promoted and sponsored by the school.

To this end our project is to provide bursaries to deserving students without discrimination

The objectives are: To ensure that students have the opportunity to study an instrument for the

Senior Certificate To assist those who wish to enter the music profession at tertiary institutions To provide outreach programmes, e.g. concerts, demonstrations, workshops,

etc To introduce all genres of music to as many people as possible To provide weekend training free of charge for disadvantaged students To establish a training programme for our future musicians in collaboration

with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra To ensure the continued existence of established music groups in KZN such

as the KZN Youth Orchestra, Soyakula Music Centre and the KZN Youth Wind band.

There are currently 18 music teachers providing lessons to 230 students.

Durban Music School Street Festival

(photo: Durban Music School)

The Music School’s idea is to generate a much wider appeal for the concert in the street, but required assistance and support to use the public space. In short, they required the municipality’s permission, but also support and facilities from various municipal departments to ensure that such a street music festival is a success. They approached the iTrump office for assistance. The iTrump took the opportunity to give it the much needed assistance, and develop a more coherent approach to the festival. As the iTrump officials were already familiar with the many line function departments that would be needed to contribute their particular levels of expertise, it was the left to them to facilitate the process by being the key co-ordinators between municipal departments such as the Metro police, the Roads Department, Durban Solid Waste and Parks and Recreation. They also brought into the process the South African Police Services. In addition


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the councillors of the area, first Mr T. Prince and later Mr Vusi Khoza lent valuable political support to the street festival and asked for it to be included in the Celebrate Durban festival in 2004. The Mayor also supported the School by expressing his appreciation in 2005.

In this way, by providing the backbone, or infrastructural and communications support for interdepartmental co-operation, the ABM laid the basis for a very successful annual St Andrews Street Festival. Of course, while the iTrump ABM was able to mobilise the municipal resources, it left the Music School to organise the participants and find sponsors for the festival. Securing an anchor sponsorship from C-Cell, the mobile telephone company, proved immensely valuable. With this sponsorship, a public/private/community partnership was born that has seen the festival grow. This year will be its sixth year, and interest in the festival has grown, and now reaches beyond the immediate surroundings to include an outreach programme in Umlazi, the Provincial Government’s Department of Arts and Culture, the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, music students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Youth Wind Band, the South African Defence Force Bands, and the Chamber of Commerce.

The success of the St Andrew Street Music Festival also prompted associations with Awesome Africa Music Festival, and relocation of the Festival to larger premises such as Albert Park, or elsewhere in the city. However, this suggestion was resisted by the Music School as it would undermine the primary purpose to provide a free community festival and contribute to the social upliftment and vibrancy of the area. Indeed, the iTrump ABM began to think of the street festival as the anchor to one of the main cultural nodes in the city. As the current director of the School points out, it lines up quite conveniently between the City Hall and Playhouse as a central cultural node and the University as another cultural node, and then reaches out in a network to other parts of the greater metropolitan area. Specifically the ABM sees this street festival and the Music School as part of a cultural node that is part of the re-development of the Victoria Embankment around Wilson’s Wharf and Albert Park.

As part of the effort to extend the street festival into a series of musical concerts and other performances (e.g. choir music, kwaito, poetry, overseas performers) taking place in the street all year round, including lunch time concerts, an ambitious project has been launched to build a stage facility in front of the school. Plans have been drawn up and are under advanced consideration by the City’s planning and architectural services. A proposal and feasibility study was undertaken by the iTrump ABM, and together with the Music School has been submitted for consideration. Both officials in iTrump and the Music School are hopeful that the project will be successful, especially since plans for this year’s street music festival are well underway, and takes place in little more than a month’s time.


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Photocollage: Durban Music School, Street Festival, 2007


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3.3 Red Eye @rt

Regeneration of the vibrancy of the city centre and attracting a new and younger visitorship were the twin ambitions of the Durban Art Gallery and the iTrump ABM. Red Eye @rt was an initiative of the Durban Art Gallery that began in 1998 and predates the iTrump ABM involvement. There were three reasons for this initiative:

To attract a new younger generation to the Art Gallery and the cultural precinct around the City Hall.

To make people aware that the city centre is a safe and fun place. To promote young talent ranging from project management to

performances.

As the recent former director of the Art Gallery stated, “…younger people ….did not perceive the place as having an attraction for them”.

Performers at a Red Eye @rt Event.

(Photo: Durban Art Gallery)

The seeds of Red Eye @rt were sown after a brain storming session initiated by the Gallery director at the time Carol Brown. Red Eye @rt was launched.


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Essentially Red Eye @Art was a multimedia collaborative event between the staff of the art gallery and a mix of contemporary artists, musicians, fashion designers and models, dancers, designers and performers of various kinds putting on displays and performances in frenetic succession at the Art Gallery on the first Friday of every month. Entry was a nominal fee, and all performers offered their services without requiring a fee. This was a voluntary endeavour that lasted for five years. It was well supported by the public and by municipal officials, including the city manager, the mayor’s office and politicians. The only city official who seemed to lack any enthusiasm for it was the Head of the Parks, Recreation and Culture Department, who offered ‘no logical reason for his objections’. It nevertheless drew a large crowd of younger people into the city on the first Friday of every month. As the event grew in popularity so did the complexity of its organisation, and soon the amount of planning that had to go into it could no longer be sustained by the Gallery staff or outside volunteers of performers. Nor could the services required by the different performers be provided, such as lighting, sound and the requisite electronics, by the volunteer staff. And as it grew it began to spill over on the pavement and streets around the City Hall.

A Section of the Crowd at Red Eye @Art


It was at this stage that the iTrump ABM got involved. The iTrump ABM was able to facilitate and co-ordinate many different line function departments (Disaster Management, Electricity, Metro Police, Durban Solid Waste, and sometimes the Parks, Recreation and Culture department, on behalf of the Art Gallery) as well as paramedics. As the scale of the organisation grew so did the procurement and provision of suppliers and equipment. The planning went from a week or two, to more extended periods ranging from two weeks to three months. Consequently there was a shift in the scheduling of the Red Eye @rt to once every 2 to 3 months. Funding also became a problem as performers began to request payment. As a voluntary organisation within the Art Gallery this was not possible or sustainable and would detract from Art Gallery’s core functions, and detract


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form the original vision. Although the International Relations Department was able to afford some funding for the programme, it was the iTrump ABM who stepped in to provide sufficient funding for the next four years as an equal partner. With the input of the iTrump ABM (funding, infrastructure, provision of facilities and creative ideas) the event expanded on the streets around the City Hall and into Medwood Gardens. With the funding and support, the event continued to grow and attracted some of the country’s best and famous performers such as Welile Tembe, Seether, Boo!, Lanscape Players, Fashion designers Amanda Laird-Cherry, Graig Native, Colleen Eitzen and Tumi Mothlamare, performance artists such as Steven Cohen (a FBN Vita award winner 1998), Brett Bailey and Beezy Bailey, Wayne Barker, visual artists Thanso Mama and Langa Magwa, dance performers such as Phenduka Dance Theatre, Siwela Sonke Dance Company, the Durban Preparatory High School Gum Boot Dancers, Mark Wilson Ballroom Dancers, among many others. It was also used on occasions for book launches and was used a site for the internationally famous travelling Cow Parade exhibition (in 2004). Over the years of its existence it developed very good working relations with a number of other institutions in eThekwini such as University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Durban University of Technology, the BAT Centre, the NSA Gallery, Centre for Fine Art, Animation and Design, the Independent Newspapers Group, as well as a number of taverns and restaurants.

However, it soon became clear that the spectacle would not be sustained at the level at which it was being supported, and nor could it continue to held in the Art Gallery as it had grown too large. The three immediate choices were:

Continued funding from the iTrump ABM and the municipality of the event in the medium to long term with a view towards self sufficient within 3-5 years.

A combination of municipal funding as a grant in aid and private sector support for an events company

Transfer of the intellectual rights to a private company and transform the event and management from the Art Gallery to an events or performance management company.


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Performances on the street outside the Art Gallery at Red Eye @rt


The impact on the City centre, the public at large and the heritage department in the precinct of the City centre, of which the Art Gallery was the prime beneficiary, may be listed as follows:

Brought together various performers, artists and general public into an art gallery that was previously regarded as elitist

Introduced an element of voluntary contribution and participation into a cultural event

Volunteers gained immense experience in event management, marketing and financial management.

Opened up a platform for many young artists, musicians, poets, designers Brought various municipal line function departments and other services

into a co-operative relationship Introduced a wide variety of the public, particularly younger people to both

the permanent and temporary collection of the Art Gallery and to cultural performances

Showed that the inner city was not a dangerous place after dark Sustained the interest of the public for nine years in a city infamous for

being ‘hard to please’ Created work (for artists, performers and service providers) thus

contributing to the city economy. Inspired many other similar events in other cities through out the country


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For now the Red Eye @rt no longer exists. The debate on what should happen in the city centre is still to occur. As the former director of the Art Gallery, Carol Brown notes “I think something new needs to be created as Red Eye in my opinion has run its lifespan” (interview, June 2007).

The Red Eye @rt and the St Andrews Street Festival provide case studies in the attempts to regenerate the cultural industries in the city in partnership with the iTrump ABM. They provide good examples what can be done with vision and an immense amount of co-ordination of local state assistance to create and drive a thriving cultural experience for local people and tourists alike, and in that way contribute to the City’s economy. Needless to say, a well developed nuanced cultural policy and a well researched and informed strategic plan are needed. (Please note: Not half-baked business plans!). Indeed, for many city centres all over the world this has proved to be a successful way of regenerating industrial cities, particularly port cities. Mombasa and Lamu in Kenya , Ho Long Bay (Vietnam), Singapore, Salvador in Brazil, and Liverpool (Britain) and Sydney (Australia) are among the more well know examples.

As the largest port in Africa with unrivalled weather/climatic conditions, eThekwini enjoys a decisive competitive advantage over many other South African and African cities in providing facilities for recreational water sports and tourist attractions. Support for infrastructural developments and regeneration of the waterfront for public use such as water sports and other recreational uses is crucial to local economic development. The uShaka Marine World developments are one flamboyant example. However, the recreational use of the city yacht mole has not received the same attention. But when the international Clipper yacht race chose eThekwini (Durban) as one of its stop over ports, it presented an opportunity for the iTrump ABM to co-ordinate with various line function departments to implement the necessary infrastructural upgrades to the Yacht Mole to meet the requirements of the race organisers. However, such idiosyncratic responses, while they do provide the piecemeal opportunities to invigorate, upgrade and provide incremental positive changes in the physical environment of the city, suffer from a lack of overall clear analytical vision and perspective of what is needed and necessary to position and promote its cultural events and tourism industries.

The City’s current Integrated Development Plan focuses the tourist economy on the beach front (beach front activities and business conferences, conventions and events such as at the ICC), and then genuflects to other possible tourists attractions such as the Inanda Heritage Route (see below). The success of the St Andrew’s street Festival and Red Eye suggests an expanded notion of tourism to include culture and events in other nodes of the city, particularly the urban core.

Indeed this is implied in various projects that the iTrump wishes to pursue in relation to culture and eventing:


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Redecorating of all art décor buildings in the city centre Extending and providing more opportunities for emerging artists in mosaic

work (similar to the pavement art work on West and Aliwal Streets) A range of heritage trails starting from the KwaMuhle Museum or City Hall

and extending in different directions incorporating all the main historical, cultural and heritage sites.

Providing a seasonal calendar of religious and public celebratory rituals that local people and tourists can attend.

Not every development towards providing the space for cultural activities and tourism development that the iTrump ABM undertook was a success. One such area is the Blue Lagoon area (known locally as Lugs). Although the iTrump ABM was engaged in putting in place proper facilities, parking, and places for informal trading, the vibrant expression of people in, and the use of, the public space that made up the Blue Lagoon was a spontaneous development by ordinary people. With a languid Umgeni River flowing into a lagoon bordered on the north side by an indigenous Mangrove forest, the barren south side developed into a thriving fishing spot, a parking and viewing area, a flea market with informal traders in various kinds of food, clothes, trinkets and other commodities, and a beach for people to play and take leisurely walks. Nearby was a restaurant and fast food facility. The Blue Lagoon became, with little intervention by the Municipality a family favourite haunt for people on weekends. Since ‘development’ by the iTrump ABM began the Blue Lagoon has been crippled by the destruction of the restaurant and take away facility and constant raids by Metro Police and SAPS looking for contraband and counterfeit goods. While the Blue Lagoon area still survives, it is a pale shadow of its former vibrant self, with many people staying away, rather than face constant harassment. It is somewhat ironic that big businesses, especially the Three Cities Group of Hotels and Resorts, now wants to develop the Umgeni River Mouth as a prime tourist attraction (North Glen News, 3 August 2007).

This less than spectacular outcome of the Blue Lagoon development once again underlines the need for a careful and long term integrated perspective of cultural development and promotion of events in the city.


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4 Context (The INK ABM)

In the case of INK the emphasis shifts to a focus on residential townships. The goal is similar to iTrump, which is to regenerate the decaying and neglected settlements of Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu, enhance the human capacity and improve the living conditions of residents. However, there is a noticeable shift from the iTrump perspective of dealing with a transient and mobile population in the case of the inner city, to one of long established urban dormitory townships being re-modelled as dense urban residential settlements and new economic hubs. The new economic hub that is being proposed is a strong possibility given the following existing and potential economic locational factors:

INK exists adjacent to the northward progression of commercial and office space centred mainly on Umhlanga and La Lucia Ridges

The upgrading of North Coast Road and the new industrial area of Riverhorse Valley

The development of Bridge City – a new industrial and commercial node next to the three townships

The future northward expansion of economic activity and opportunities associated with the iDube Trade Port along side development of the King Shaka Airport

The future building of a 6 line highway that links the area to Pinetown crossing the Umgeni River at Kwadabeka.

These current and future developments tied in with the increase in housing estates should provide a platform for new economic and employment opportunities. In this light, the INK ABM internal development plans and programmes, as well as those that require it to play a facilitative role towards integrating the different line departments’ functions take on a new significance.

As with the iTrump programmes and projects it is envisaged that ‘these changes will change people’s sense of belonging in respect of the INK’. In short, the objective is to create a new sense of citizenship and identity within the INK area in particular and the eThekwini Municipality more generally.

5 Situational Analysis

When the INK ABM first set itself up in the early 2000s, one of the first steps it took was to identify the main community based and non-governmental organisations in the INK area. In 2003 as a result of commissioned research it was able to identify more than 500 different community based and non-


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governmental organisations, including their resources, and, skills and capacities. There was need to ensure that the community needs were also in alignment with the integrated development planning framework of the municipality.

In 2004 the INK ABM began a more structured engagement with the community based and non-governmental organisations. It created a forum to which all community based organizations were invited to discuss issues of development, what support could be given to the development process that was unfolding in the INK area, what problems they had and what support they needed. About 450 CBOs attended the meeting. Thus began the ABM programme on INK citizenship. In specific terms the INK identified a few very generic, but absolutely essential skills as lacking in the CBOS. They were:

Generic skills in bookkeeping and office administration The legality of the CBOs. Their need for funding

As these were organisations that the ABM wished to work with, it was essential that these CBOs were trained in organisational management skills. This was necessary because not only were the organisations to be sustainable from the point of view of medium to long term relations that the ABM wished to have with relevant and legitimate organisations from the communities in INK, it was also essential if these community organisations were to fulfil their own goals and plans. Furthermore, their legality and ability to safely receive and report on the expenditure of funds received from either the ABM, or other departments within the various spheres of government was an issue. Their legality and ability to function are important considerations in any funding agency’s perspective, especially if these CBOs decide to raise their own funds for their own programmes and projects.

Subsequent meetings raised other important issues that the INK ABM began to address in relation to their own formulation of plans to operate in the area. These centred on the envisaged engagement with, and impact upon, culture and events in the INK area, and to differentiate the CBOs. For example, the involvement of CBOs in learning journeys was in response to the need for CBOs to explore similar examples and experiences to learn from and partly to begin to differentiate these organisations into categories of similar objectives, needs and goals. In this way the ABM was also able to assist in the formation of co-operatives where necessary to achieve these goals.

This initial comprehensive consultation process accomplished three important outcomes:

Empowered citizens to be able to articulate their own needs A planning process that is proactive, rather than re-active implemented.


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A differentiation of projects that range from the ‘hard’ infrastructural needs to the ‘soft’ social cultural development programmes.

It should be noted that the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ are merely convenient labels. Officials in the ABM office were at pains to point out that the one cannot do without the other. For example electricity and water is essential to a community hall for a workshop on diversity to take place, or to a sports’ stadium in order for a sports’ or cultural festival to take place. The hard and soft categories are not mutually exclusive or antagonistic as both are essential.

It is this process of consultation that informs the strategic planning of the INK ABM. The process was as wide and as inclusive as possible with organised community groups, and extended over a four month period. Beginning in December of the financial year, each group or individual that participated in the formal consultative meetings was given a registration form with a reference number attached to their requests and comments. All the requests and needs that were articulated were subjected to a needs analysis. Thus for example in the formulation of the Business Plan for the year 2006/7, more than 600 community based groups and organisations were invited to a stakeholder meeting. Out of a series of meetings and workshops which distilled the main concerns into various categories such as infrastructure, social and cultural development, governance, service delivery, environment, health, crime prevention and justice. These were further packaged by the INK ABM into four main foci of anticipated impact, namely:

The living environment Governance Infrastructure Economic Environment

The four foci of impact become the basis upon which the strategic plan and budget was drawn up. The ‘impact’ appears at first glance as the desired outcome of the INK ABM strategic planning process, that is to say, what they, the officials and managers of the ABM programmes, projects and processes consider as the overall impact for the areas as a whole. The overall impact assessment that they made was to eliminate duplication and unnecessary wastage of resources. However, these four packaged ‘impact’ focus areas were introduced to the community based organisations as programmes with a request to answer a very basic question: What projects within the four ‘impact’ areas or programmes will benefit the community the most? Consideration was also to be given to three other factors. Firstly, that there were limitations on the budgets. This meant that CBOs and all residents had to consider what should or could be possible given the budget constraints. In other words the ‘impact’ sought must benefit the community the most within a circumscribed but realistic budget. Secondly, there were no unrestrained promises to continue to provide budgets for programmes and budgets from the municipal treasury without working with


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the community to achieve the agreed upon goals. Thirdly, while community organisations were integral to the whole process of consultation and implementation, the actual implementation agents for many of the projects would be the various line function departments of the municipality, ranging from the Physical Planning to the Parks, Culture and Recreation Departments.

The effect of this process was dramatic on the INK communities, particularly the community based organisations most closely associated with the programmes and projects of the INK ABM. While it is critically important to note that the various voices within the communities in INK were heard and recorded as to what they desired, there was a striking difference from past folk models of governance practices that the council should merely provide what was requested, or alternatively merely accept what was provided. Rather than being merely the recipients of a Metropolitan Council’s beneficiation, communities had to consider their options carefully as part of an integrated development initiative. Indeed as one official stated: ‘At the beginning they all asked for money, but now they ask for partnerships. They want to know what they can contribute to INK.’ This represents a seismic shift in people’s ideas of their relationship with Government. Some of the officials attribute this to new facilitation techniques drawn from Image Theory when conducting workshops and consultative meetings. The core idea is that an unlikely set of diverse people can agree to envision or imagine a clear future as a cohesive and identifiable group, and set up a set of intermediate strategic aims to be implemented towards attaining the imagined future. It is this sense of belonging to a larger imagined community of about half a million people in the INK area that marks the beginning of shift, a dispatching of past embedded notions of what is being done to and for the communities of INK, to new ideas of what can be done with communities for the citizens of INK living within the boundaries of the eThekwini municipality.

In is in this context that the culture, eventing and tourism projects must be situated, and analysed. Drawing from the vast number of programmes and projects found in their business plan and the interviews with officials and key informants, the key aspects of the tourism and events theme are as follows:

Promoting cultural events through skills training and learning journeys Providing a wider experiences of other cultures Providing a wider set of leisure, recreational and cultural options. The opportunities of using cultural activities as economic and

entrepreneurial opportunities Promoting cultural and heritage tourism as a local economic development

initiative


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The programmes and specific projects that inform these key aspects of culture, eventing and tourism are as follows:

Programme Relevant Specific Project*Skills development Programmes Asset MappingCitizen Activation Donor MappingKnowledge management programme Learning journeys within and

outside INKINK participation programme INK Stakeholder Forum,

Joint Government Technical Forum

INK Councillors Urban Renewal Forum Political Champions Community Development

Cultural Renaissance programme Museums Arts and Culture

Sport and Recreation development programme

Sports and recreation Sports Codes Development and

administration Indigenous games

Tourism development programmes Tourism support Capacity building and

mentorship Business compliance

Economic Sector Development Programme

Cooperative Development

* There are many other projects within a particular programme. The projects listed are those that relate directly to, or are linked with culture, eventing and tourism.

It is important to note that each of the programmes and projects has relevance to one another. For example, the strategic planning process involves catering for the views, perspectives, inputs and work that has to be various levels of government, and different stakeholders. The strategic planner has to be aware of, and plan to include each different group of stakeholders. There must be awareness of the relevance of each Government or Municipal line function department to enable the ABM to formulate a strategic plan to meet the stated goal of an integrated approach to development in the INK area, and to ensure that when agendas are set, the specific goals, aims and objectives of the projects are clearly outlined and differentiated from one another.

Below is an outline of each of these programmes and projects, the people involved, desired objectives, and outcomes.


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5.1 Learning Journeys

Learning journeys fall under the knowledge management programme. The main objective of the learning journeys project is to create opportunities for community members through workshops, visits, attendance of demonstrations, excursions etc. This was a project that was started in 2006. One of the first of these learning journeys was a workshop in Johannesburg attended by 10 community representatives. The workshop was entitled ‘pioneers of change’ which focussed on how leaders sought and brought changes to society that secured a democratic order and respect for diversity, and to learn cultural and facilitation techniques to promote positive change. There were two outcomes of this exercise. The first anticipated outcome, according to the ABM officials, was to train some community leaders who will in turn train others, and spread and diffuse the ideas learnt about facilitating social change with members of the community. This is an ongoing process. The second was for some of the community leaders to stage an event to deal with the issues of diversity and leadership. For example, the INK ABM sponsored a workshop called ‘Cosmopolitan Events Day: Cross-Cultural Workshop’ (7 June 2007). The Workshop was divided into day events consisting of indoor games and musical performances to break the ice and build team spirit, and an evening seminar of poetry and dance as a prelude to reflect on ‘philosophical misconceptions’, share ‘truths’ of different race and ethnic groups, build trust and reflect on encountered problems. The central idea was to address the issue of diversity in society, and specifically within and between different groups of people living within and outside the INK areas, and create an environment for ‘cultural fusion’ and in the process ‘remove racial stigmas’ and ‘individual hindrances’.

This particular case study of ambulatory cultural ambitions raises a number of questions:

What is a public cultural asset? How to define this? What are the public cultural assets of the INK area? What are contemporary expressions of public culture in the INK area? How can individual cultural expressions be linked into a cultural

renaissance? What skills are needed to develop public culture? What financial and other resources are needed? What are the main issues that can be addressed in a programme of

cultural renaissance? Why have a cultural renaissance programme? What is being imagined for the future?

The questions raised by the case of the cosmopolitan day workshop are further reflected on and explored in a number of other cultural episodes that have occurred in the INK area.


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5.2 Cultural Assets

Drawing from the citizen activation programme there are two interlinked projects that are being run to draw up and on cultural assets. Cultural assets here are being defined fairly broadly to include the physical sites, heritage, ideas, practices and experiences of all sectors of the INK communities, including that of the business world. The first project is a donor mapping exercise. The plan is to build a directory of all organisations that provide some kind of donations funding and advice for small scale community organisations. One of the learning journeys was precisely to gain from their experiences of building contractors in the INK area and to pass on their knowledge and experiences to other contractors and new emerging building contractors. The ability to access funding and donations must be linked to the vision or anticipate future images of cultural practices. In one sense, there are the aims of using the funding to revive, re-establish, re-connect, re-make, restore, create, promote and develop cultural activities, combined with a the idea that there is a necessary skills base that must be developed to organise, produce, manage, promote and market the activities associated with this cultural renaissance. Taken one step further, as noted by an ABM official, it is to progress from staging of small events within particular impact areas to project managing cultural events for the entire Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu area.

The mapping of the assets of INK is still a concept. The intention is to produce a directory of all the tangible (the physical sites, people and artefacts) and intangible (the unwritten cultural practices, ideas, folkways, contemporary dances, poetry, music etc) cultural and heritage assets and combine these into organised groups managed by those with the as yet unidentified, but soon to be acquired management skills.

Along side the mapping of the assets will be a commissioned set of manuals that will provide a ‘tool kit’ on how to:

Mobilise people and build capacity ‘Train the trainers’ as part of developing fund raising skills Provide practical skills on how to manage funds Provide models and examples of how to report back to donors

Clearly the ABM and the people of INK recognise that skills in fund raising and the management of assets (money, people and tangible and intangible cultural and heritage assets) is essential. However, it is not a question of waiting to acquire the skills before embarking or launching their cultural renaissance programme. For example, the training and development of skills has been facilitated by at least three typical kinds of projects:

The promotion of sports other than soccer and netball. The drum festival Staging of local heritage such as isicastimiya music and plays about local

historical events.


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5.3 Local Cultural Heritage: Music

The theme of music has been inspired and spread by the popularity of isicastimiya music. The ABM has sought to support this trend inspired by the music and success of the legendary and world famous group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo. This trend in the revival of local cultural heritage has led to recording of oral heritage and a proposal to set up a local museum. The idea of a museum has already inspired a project on oral heritage funded by the ABM as well as a creative writing project. These latter aspects of cultural revival in INK will be described more fully when the Inanda Heritage Trail is discussed.

The drum festival consisted of a three day event to which schools from the INK area were invited to send representatives. The first two days were devoted to learning the skills and techniques of drumming, facilitated by professional musicians. The third day was a free staged show, open to the public, of what they had learnt. Here, not only were students exposed to and trained to play a musical instrument, but were also involved in the staging of the event, and in doing so were exposed to the required elements in project managing such events.

5.4 Local Cultural Heritage: Sports and Recreational Culture

Ever since children from the townships of INK have been travelling to other areas for their education, especially former Indian and White schools, they have been exposed to a wider variety of sports, namely rugby, cricket, hockey, volley ball, basket ball, swimming, tennis and other sports. Those children that attend these suburban schools continue to live in the INK townships and have demanded that these sports be given some level of priority in training and learning the necessary skills and rules of such games. In the process other children from the townships have been drawn into these sporting codes. The INK ABM have set up with the Parks and Recreation Department of the Municipality and the Sports Department of the Province a number of training clinics in sports such as cricket, hockey, rugby and swimming. The intention is to deepen the sports culture within these townships, rather than reliance on only soccer for the boys and netball for the girls as sum total of sport played. Indeed, women’s soccer was also observed by the researcher. Not only does sport address in however a small way the issue of gender, it also cuts across the crime and justice theme of this research project. This is because it involves more youth in creative activities which both absorbs their energy and deflects away from engaging in petty criminal activity and reduces the increasing burdens on policing and the criminal justice system. In


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short, the spreading and deepening of a sports and recreational culture occupies the youth in creative rather than destructive pursuits.

5.5 Local Cultural Heritage: The INK Cultural Renaissance Project

Recognising the vast potential that cultural revival presents, The INK ABM conceived of a special project entitled the INK Cultural Renaissance. There are three crucial elements that make up the core of this project:

The establishment of a local museum in the INK area – probably in KwaMashu or Ntuzuma, rather than Inanda.

A creative writing project The revival of the Inanda Heritage Trail

It should be noted that the revival of the Inanda heritage trail, that is the trail incorporating primarily the Gandhi, Dube and Shembe sites, is not a project that specifically falls within the ambit of the social and cultural development of Inanda Ntuzuma and KwaMashu. It is not the direct responsibility of the local economic development department of the INK ABM, but is nevertheless part of the historical and cultural consciousness of the people in INK, and must be planned as an integral part of the overall INK development strategy. Thus, even though its development resources might be drawn from the impetus created within the programmes and projects conceived as local economic development, it is deemed to be part of the cultural renaissance project.

While the Gandhi, Dube and Shembe sites are nationally and internationally important historical and heritage sites in themselves, there are, as the ABM officials and residents point out many important people that are associated with INK. These are people that range over many areas of social life: intellectuals, politicians, artists, sportspersons, musicians, and writers, among others. The identification of these people is also part of the cultural asset project. It marks the first phase of a longer term project which will centre on a museum dedicated to the life and times of INK, and is most visibly represented by the oral history project and the collection of artefacts. The oral history testimony, texts, speeches, documents and artefacts will form the core of the collection for a local museum. This represents a second phase that will be guided by the eThekwini Municipalities Heritage Department, especially the Local History Museum - the creation and establishment of an INK museum. At this moment a speech contest among the schools of INK is being held on the life and times of Chief Albert Luthuli. Fourteen schools have thus far indicated their willingness to take part as the first of a series of special events leading up to the opening of the museum.

Closely associated with this documenting of the history of INK is the support given by the INK ABM to creative writing. This writing can take the form of poetry,


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essay writing, and short stories. Thus far, with the support of the ABM, a first anthology of poetry and short stories has been published by 12 young writers between the ages of 18 to 30 years. Some of these writers have turned to writing songs for music groups. The initial success of this creative writing project has prompted the ABM to further sponsor a writing workshop in 2005 as a second phase of creative writing which has produced a second anthology of writings and which has been presented by both the Time of the Writer and Poetry Africa festivals in Durban. This has given the writers from INK encouragement and a public space to perform and read their works. However, the ABM has been concerned about the copyright and intellectual property rights on their work and has begun the process of organising them to speak with one voice over the legal use and distribution of their work, as well as any royalties due to them. The creative development and power of such indigenous writings and performances can have potential long term benefits in the same way that hip hop and rap developed out of a particular style of writings and poetry based on the decaying USA inner cities in the 1970s.

While it is difficult to predict with any degree of precision what may become of this cultural revival, that is, the cultural renaissance sponsored by the INK ABM, a much more realistic economic assessment can be made of the all but moribund Inanda Heritage Trail.

5.6 Local Cultural Heritage: The Inanda Heritage Trail

“Basically when tourists come here now they simply see the sites, take pictures and leave. No money is left behind. This is because there is nothing for the tourists” INK ABM official. July 2007.

5.6.1 The Current Status of the Programme

In the 1990s the Inanda Heritage route was conceived of as a heritage and tourism route that would highlight the significance of three main and other associated sites in the Inanda township area. The three main sites are: Gandhi Settlement, where Mahatma Gandhi began to evolve his passive resistance philosophy, the Dube family settlement/Ohlange Institute, where the first President of the ANC, John Dube, founded his school, Ohlange Institute, and Ekuphakameni, a sacred site of the African Christian Shembe Church, founded by Isaiah Shembe.


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John Dube Grave Site and Interpretative Centre, Inanda.

(photo: S.Vawda)

The three main protagonists associated with these sites were all contemporaries of each other which give further impetus to their historical and heritage significance. In time, these historical sites are also to be linked to the other sites such as the Inanda Dam and the Inanda Seminary as part of the tourism route. Clearly, a series of sites in close proximity with immense historical and symbolic significance for the new South Africa could be developed into an interesting and attractive heritage route.

Shembe Baptism

(photo: Local History Museum)

The question was, and still is, how these could be converted into a business opportunity that would benefit the local community. It was thought in the immediate post 1994 period, that by developing these sites as heritage attractions as part of the reconstruction and development programme in the township, tourists would be attracted to these sites, particularly those associated with Mahatma Gandhi and John Dube


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Entrance to Ekuphakameni, the Nazareth Baptist Church (Shembe), Inanda.

(Photo: S. Vawda)

The main beneficiaries of this tourism venture were to be the communities of the Inanda area, particularly people living in the informal settlements around the three main attractions. Incomes derived from the expenditure by tourists at these attractions were to be used for the benefit of the communities.

Mahatma Gandhi’s House at the Gandhi Settlement, Inanda.

(Photo: S.Vawda)

The main target groups of this tourism development venture were:


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The families, trusts and congregation associated with the sites as the owners or trustees

The eThekwini municipality The Provincial government, in particular the heritage council, AMAFA. The community representative forum, at the time, the Inanda Development

Forum, who, with the assistance of the Municipality were to be establish training programmes for tour guides, and identify community oral history researchers, and enterprises associated with providing crafts and refreshments for sale to tourists.

Partnerships with businesses within the tourism sector were not identified as part of the target group.

5.6.2 The Inanda Heritage Route and Area Development

Development was already underway by the eThekwini Municipality as part of the reconstruction and development programme in the immediate post 1994 period. Some of the positive aspects are:

Generally the municipality provides an efficient level of service and a governance framework.

Locality development was further boosted in 2001 by the fact that these sites fell within the initial experiment of Area Based Management by the municipality in the townships of Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu (INK) which was declared one of six Presidential urban renewal projects. There is a wealth of institutional experience in rolling out of government funded projects. The area based management system, together with the LED officers, are making interventions which can rapidly provide the necessary resources to further strengthen the locality factors.

The INK ABM project plans for the Inanda Heritage Route specifically links it to tourism.

The trusts, families and religious congregation were able to tap into funds from various foreign government and other sources to develop, restore and conserve the heritage sites. For example, the Gandhi Settlement received funds from the Government of India for the reconstruction of the Gandhi wood and iron house. Funds also came from the South African Government (including local and Provincial governments).

The Provincial government, through AMAFA (the Provincial council on heritage matters) provided advice, guidance and some funds for restoration and conservation work

Upgrading of roads and infrastructural services such as electricity and water were, and continue to be, the responsibility of the Municipality in terms of urban renewal and upgrading programmes.

The area has an abundance of unskilled and semi-skilled labour.


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There are many survivalist entrepreneurs, who with some further training and loans for capital investments can contribute to provide various services for tourists and possibly also towards the management of the sites.

Sites are very near the Phoenix Industrial Park, and the soon to be developed Bridge City. These industrial parks can provide many of the additional services and materials that are needed for the further development of the sites, in terms of construction, furniture, electronic equipment or the purchase of wholesale food and other refreshments.

There is commitment on the part of eThekwini Municipality to support the needs of SMMEs and create a positive business environment.

Negative factors are:

The urban renewal and upgrading programmes did not consider the specific needs of these sites as potential tourist attractions, and hence would require some reconstruction and remodelling.

The Integrated Development Plan does not specifically target Inanda for tourism re-generation. It mentions the possibility of tourism but does not link it to the revival of the central urban core’s tourism revival plan.

The local population in Inanda cannot provide the higher levels of skills, particularly management skills, required of a tourism enterprise.

The built environment has not been upgraded significantly – the serenity of the heritage sites contrasts sharply with the built environment, dominated by RDP houses with little green vegetation.

Perceptions of Inanda are that it is not clean - plenty of litter and rubbish in public spaces.

Perception of grime, is reinforced by perceptions of the area as crime infested potentially allowing tourists to be victims of crime.

Some sites are unkempt and unwelcoming to tourists.

While a lot of energy was spent in developing the locality, and in particular negotiating the removal of people illegally occupying the site of the Gandhi settlement, the networks and relationships created out of that process did not translate into turning the sites into tourism LED projects or programmes. There was no serious thinking around the requisites of promoting tourism, particularly ideas associated with community based or pro-poor tourism.


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Road leading to entrance of Gandhi Heritage Site, Inanda, October, 2007.

(photo: S.Vawda)

The attractions were there, but there was no policy development, strategic planning or serious implementation of local economic development with tourism enterprise development at its centre. It was a naïve expectation that tourists would simply arrive and that their mere presence and limited spending in the township would benefit the community: Instead:

Funds to restore and conserve the sites were found and spent precisely for what they were raised to do. No funding was spent on skills required to manage a tourism enterprise.

Infrastructural development that was already planned for the township went ahead, without reference to the specific planning needs of tourism.

The result was that while community and infrastructural locality development improved, there was no attention paid to enterprise locality development in the community with an eye towards how tourism could be used as a development factor, particularly around the three historic/heritage sites. The idea of craft manufacturing and tour guiding was ill-informed as there was no intimate connection with the requirements and demands of the tourism industry.

There was some training of guides and oral history fieldworkers. In the absence of any understanding of what their roles were in turning the sites into heritage attractions for tourism the skills learnt did not serve any particular purpose, least of all providing a foundation towards making the sites ‘must-see’ attractions.

The Inanda Development Forum was a passive consultative conduit to take possession of delivery of mass infrastructural and ‘bulk’ development, rather than a forum to empowering community participants through


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knowledge and skills. It simply received ‘public goods’. It had no control over the sites as these were owned and managed by others, and therefore its influence was minimal on the restoration process and discussion of the precise purpose of these sites as heritage tourist attractions.

The LED officials of the INK ABM are critically aware of the dire situation of the Inanda Heritage Route, but are also very aware that that it has one of the best potentials in a poor residential area over the medium term, to provide some kind of economic growth. With this in mind a number of initiatives were undertaken. The first and critical point of departure was the convening of a stakeholder group. It consisted of the following:

The Inanda Tourism Bureau which consisted of all stakeholders, but equally important the representatives of family and trusts that managed and controlled the respective sites.

The INK ABM Durban Africa The eThekwini municipality’s Economic Development Department

Although these stakeholders are not a full set of all the potential stakeholders they represent the important first set of organisations that must agree on a strategy. The INK ABM convened these groups after much preparatory work, especially among the Dube and Gandhi families and trusts and the Shembe Church. While all the stakeholders eventually agreed on the importance of the Inanda Heritage Route and its revival as part of a local economic development strategy there are, as the process unfolded, other issues and problems that arose and needed attention.

There are six other critical issues that are being addressed simultaneously.

These six critical issues are:

Organising the co-operatives. Co-operatives were created under the Economic Sector Development Programme. There are ten co-operatives that are currently operating in the arts and crafts sector in Inanda. The idea is to link them into the Inanda Heritage trail. Upper most in the minds of the ABM is that their products must be of a high quality to be able to market them to tourists. In this respect funding and assistance from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in establishing three Arts and Crafts centres, one in each township, over a 4 month period was very useful. This initiative from the DEAT included training undertaken for 15 of the over 300 registered co-operatives in INK, with a bias towards the co-operatives from Inanda. The DEAT Arts and Craft centre for Inanda is to be established along the Heritage Route. This leads to the second critical issue: land to build such a craft centre.


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The question of land. Land is being sought to build the craft centre, although the ideal land that has been identified is owned by the Government. However, the negotiation with the relevant Government department is difficult and prolonged. It is uncertain when the process will be complete.

Official status of sites. The sites have to be declared heritage sites. There is some doubt as to whether these sites are declared as official heritage sites. There has to be a declaration of the sites by the Minister of Arts and Culture, on the recommendation of the South African Heritage Resource Agency. This declaration is of some importance in making the heritage route a part of the cultural renaissance of INK and linking it with the revision of the tourism strategy of the eThekwini municipality: Officially declared sites have the possibility of funding from the

Department of Arts and Culture, with assistance from other heritage agencies in the country. It also means that the national or provincial government becomes the ultimate responsible agency for the county’s heritage resources. Official status also strengthens the possibility of external funding.

Depending on their status, grade A, B, or C, the responsibility will respectively lie with national government, Provincial or local government. However this is also a constitutional problem as there is no provision in the constitution for heritage sites or museums at the local government level. Therefore, in a very strict, almost literal interpretation of municipal government constitutional mandates, heritage sites are an unfunded mandate. This is a point that the eThekwini municipality constantly stresses, and explains its reluctance to spend any funds on heritage sites.

Assistance from other departments. The Parks and Recreation Department has to manage and maintain the sites. Negotiations are underway for it to maintain the grounds and streetscape.

Marketing and Promotion. Reliance thus far has been on the marketing arm of the eThekwini municipality, Durban Africa, to promote and advertise the Heritage Route. Thus far only some brochures have been produced.

The Inanda Ntuzuma KwaMashu Chamber of Industry (INKCOB). The INKCOB was an obvious business partner in the quest to structure and make a success of the Route, but it has only recently been created and is still finding its feet. As the INK ABM was an important driver in the establishment of the INKCOB, their thinking is that it is unlikely to participate as a stakeholder, but would do so later.

All of these issues, including creating the stakeholder forum and the establishment of the Inanda Tourism Bureau, would not have been possible without the role played by the ABM in negotiating and facilitating what needed to be done. The INK ABM continues to pursue resolution to all of the issues and problems. Some problems are entangled in delicate constitutional issues, while


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some are about the red tape that militates against rational and reasonable action being taken, and it has taken an organisation such as the ABM to resolve the problem, or at least address the problem without the ultimate aim of a functioning and thriving tourism route being trapped in a bureaucratic or constitutional quagmire. To illustrate this point by way of an example, the eThekwini Municipality, through its Economic Development Department is committed to providing whatever resources, by way of infrastructure, economic planning or other services, to the upgrading and developing of the area around the Heritage Route to make it conducive for tourism. However, as a Municipality, it cannot directly fund any upgrading on heritage sites (even though their official status is unclear) as this would be against the Municipal Finances Management Act. Yet much of the proposed upgrading of the actual sites can be effected through the ABM as its expenditure is not directly related to the funds received by the Municipality via the rates base or through transfers from the national Treasury or provincial government. This enabled much of the facilitation and planning to go ahead without bending or breaking any financial regulations. This side stepped the constitutional issues so that progress could be made, and opened the way for further negotiations on the status of the project within the different levels of government, the inputs and resources that each stakeholder brings to the project, and precise ways in which local economic development can take place.

There are other developments that could form a strong link with the Heritage Tourism. These are:

Start businesses related to tourism. For example there is at the moment only one bed and breakfast accommodation establishment in Inanda. While it provides a service, that service is limited. The idea is to expand accommodation and associated industries.

There are also negotiations that are taking place with private sector interests outside of the INK area in the tourism industry such as tour and tour guiding agencies in order to facilitate tourists to come to INK. Partnerships with local tour guiding companies are a possibility, and include the possibility of mentoring and skills training. These ideas are supported by the political champions, Ministers Alec Erwin and Roy Padayachee.

Expand the range of entertainment to include music, theatre and poetry (this could take place in other townships such as KwaMashu or Ntuzuma). This kind of entertainment could be packaged with accommodation and the Heritage Route.

It has been noted by the ABM that one of the biggest handicaps to investment by the tourism industry in the INK is the perception of crime. The ABM is tackling this issue through its social development programme by supporting the community court and restorative justice system (community service and diversion programmes), effective policing, surveillance and its crime prevention through environmental design projects.


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6. Learning Areas

There are a number of particular roles that the ABMs have played in pioneering new forms of participation, adding new value and raising the overall performance of the city and its various partners with respect to culture and events during the last seven years. Each one of those events and the cultural practices it promoted has their strengths and weaknesses. These have been listed and discussed above. In the section below the specific lessons and consequences of the initiatives undertaken by the ABMs in the inner city and in the Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu areas have been grouped into three broad learning areas. 6.1 . Culture and events as tools for urban change and regeneration.

6.1.1. Culture and events as technical tools In virtually all the projects undertaken there was a strong underlining assumption that by promoting culture and events a mainline feature of it would be to repair, maintain or provide new infrastructure. This was most strongly evident in the repairing and provision of facilities for the Clipper event at the yacht mole and small craft harbour. The promotion of cultural practices and events is considered secondary to a primarily technical rationality in re-pairing, re-shaping or renewing the already existing city infrastructure and built environment. There is much to be said for this approach which brings with it ample justification for expending resources on much needed infrastructure. However, consideration of the Clipper yacht race as part of broader re-conceptualisation of the harbour as a potential site and node of cultural, sporting and recreational events, possibility with the nearby Music School’s aim of providing urban renewal through culture, is not strongly in evidence. Elements of this approach were also evident in the provision of stalls for the informal traders next to the Badsha Peer tomb. However, in this case ABM officials were compelled to take into account long standing historical cultural practices and broker agreements between Muslim followers of Badsha Peer and the recent arrival of a new generation local informal traders on the use and sharing of urban space. The situational logic of already existing cultural practices are harmonised with new commercial practices into an urban regeneration scheme that succeeds.

6.1.2. Culture and events as a social tool There are two examples of using culture as a tool for urban renewal and regeneration. The first is the Music School, and its annual street festival in assisting with community development and urban renewal in the St Andrews, (to be renamed Diakonia Street). The Music Schools annual street festival develops in an organic way by involving the music schools students, other festivals and


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institutions and then requests the iTrump ABM to provide the necessary municipal services and permits into a feature of the Durban cultural calendar. In this the ABM played a strong supportive role for a cultural event that already strongly identified and committed itself with to community upliftment and urban renewal. Its further potential development into weekly lunch time concerts provides a strong argument for it to be considered by the ABM as nodal link to the cultural and entertainment developments taking place at the nearby Wilson’s Wharf along the Embankment.

Using culture as a tool of urban regeneration is most forcefully evident in the INK area. The ABMs promotion and support of cultural workshops relating to discussions and debates on cultural diversity, poetry, stories, and promoting co-operatives in support of the Inanda Heritage Route and city festivals such as ‘Poetry Africa’ and ‘Time of the Writer’ proceeds from a very different conception of urban regeneration. Here the promotion of culture, cultural appreciation and new practices such as publishing their stories and poetry and their performing at festivals lie at the centre of giving local citizens a sense of belonging and achievement by re-conceptualisation former townships as suburban residential spaces. They have, through cultural performance become an integral part of the city. Urban regeneration is considered in terms of the use of public spaces such as community halls and sports facilities for the production of such cultural activities. The use of such public spaces for cultural practices is positively acknowledged and supported by the ABM. However unlike the immediately measurable success of the Clipper and Badsa Peer projects, this has only begun to take root and its long term success probably depends on the continued existence of imaginative cultural development projects, and hence on the ABM, or ABM like structures into the future. 6.2 Citizenship and Inclusion

One of the strongest roles that the ABMs are playing in the development of the city, albeit confined to certain areas only, is in the production of an inclusive citizenship. Citizenship in this context is not simply a legally or constitutionally defined membership of a state or country, but of a process of organic incorporation and inclusion of people, through consultation and negotiation, in the social, cultural and economic strategies of making a living in the city. The evidence of this is in the incorporation of informal traders as part of the economic and streetscape of the city, the support given to the Red Eye @Art cultural project to attract young people to the city centre, and the promotion of culture, events and heritage development in the INK area. Four critically important aspects of citizenship and inclusion have been promoted and sustained by the activities of the ABMs. The first is that there has to be a sustained process of consultation and negotiation. The second is the respect for the rule of law, followed by a sense of rights and responsibilities in the public discourse. And fourthly a spirit of voluntarism. This is amply demonstrated by the informal traders combating crime through their own efforts, and the volunteers working to


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make the Red Eye @Art as success. However, what is clear is that this voluntarism is not a lofty altruism, but rather a voluntarism which, as in the case of the informal traders, one of self interest and preservation, and in the case of the Red Eye @Art volunteers learning new and important skills. The strongest outcome of the citizenship and inclusionary dimensions of the ABM’s role is that of re-imaging of the city from inner-city white colonial to post-colonial diversity.

6.3. Planning and sustainability

The ABMs have had many positive outcomes in the short time of its existence. There have been many positive specific learning areas related to the projects and programmes undertaken by the ABMs as far as culture and events are concerned. However, there are also shortcomings and limitations. It is crucial to identify these as an important learning area. Some of the specific limitations have already been identified. Taken altogether one may say that while the organic process of consultation and planning was been a positive outcome of the many projects and plans, such planning has been idiosyncratic and in the long term not sustainable. For example the city is made up of strategic nodes of development, but no specific conception of culture and heritage as a strategic sector in itself. The closet the ABMs come to taking an integrated and sustainable approach to planning culture is the Inanda Heritage Trail where the various cultural products promoted by the ABM in the INK area are being seen as strategic to the long term success of the Inanda Heritage Trail as a tourist heritage route. It is tourism that drives the integration and long term sustainability, rather than culture in and of itself. Although this idea has been prompted by Music school in its vague quest of community development and urban renewal in the St Andrews (Diakonia) Street and its environs, it still remains an elusive idea for the ABMs as to how this might happen. The idea is excellent, but still needs for partners and like minded organisations that see the wisdom of urban renewal through cultural activities (in part driven by music), and then to devise a plan, set down key strategic objectives, and work towards its achievements. It would also, of necessity, require the acceptance and support of local city politicians.

In all of the examples, projects and programmes written up as a case study of culture and events associated and supported by the ABMs, it is clear that these have been idiosyncratic responses. While they do provide the piecemeal opportunities to invigorate, upgrade and make incremental positive changes in the physical environment of the city, they all suffer from a lack of overall clear analytical vision and perspective of what is needed and necessary to position and promote its cultural events and tourism industries as a whole into the future.


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7. Recommendations for a Realignment of Interventions

7.1 Principle/Core Values:

Need for an all inclusive cultural policy Need for further integrated development planning – involve relevant line

function departments in cultural planning Develop long term strategy and implementation Build a public literacy initiative that accepts, tolerates, respects and

promotes diversity locally Build a sense of inclusive citizenship Accept there will be robust debate

7.2 Strategy:

Build and extend the consultative and participatory model Revise IDPs with a view to incorporating cultural activities and

participatory principles Think of cultural development and events as local economic development

initiatives. Facilitate greater co-ordination between line departments in implementing

plans Focus on development programmes for culture and events Projects within programmes must be in sharp focus Develop cultural nodes into a network of cultural activities Nodes may have locally and culturally specific activities, (but not

exclusive)


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Interviews

Brown, Carol, former Director Durban Art Gallery June 2007

Nomsa Shembe, INK ABM, 8 June 2007

Nomsa Hlatswayo, INK ABM 8 June 2007. Nuthan Maharaj, INK ABM, 8 June 2007

Hoosen Moola, iTrump, ABM, 26 June 2007

Richard Dobson, iTrump ABM, 22 June 2007

Mahlambi, Musa INK ABM, 28 June 2007

Msomi, Pakemele Economic Development, 4 July 2007

Werner, Dannewitz, June 2007

Peterson, G June 2007

Documents

ABMD (2007) Case Study Identification: Stories: ABM Area Inputs.

ABMD (2006) Annual Business Plan

INK ABM (2006) Inanda, Ntuzama and KwaMashu (INK) ; Six Monthly Report, July 2006 60 December 2006.

References

Durban Music School (Pamphlet) Vision, Mission, Core Values

North Glen News, 3 August 2007

Turner, L (2004) ‘Red Eye: The Unwavering Gaze’ in Isumi/10. Durban Art Gallery

Williams, R (1983) Keywords. Fontana Books.


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