The community together with the UF24 Company, organized a “Color Tour” event with bicycle riders to map a tourist attraction route to interest tourists from areas such as Dinokeng Game Lodge to visit and appreciate the history and life of the people of Temba.
The first successful event was held through a ‘Color Tour’ event that took place on 31 October 2020 to visit Checkersville, one of the areas targeted as a tourist destination.
The mission of the event was to explore the Township/Lokshen culture of Temba, “a place of hope” departing from Checkersville and cycling through the route map that follows tourist attractions such as Checkersville, Temba Square, and Temba Beach.
Mr Benjamin Nhlanhla, a representative of UF24, the company that owns a PR agency, an E-Commerce Book Shop, and an Internet Café, said the initiative is to bring hope to the people of Temba through income-generating activities.
The innovation includes reviving Temba landmarks and introducing the sale of moments and food at the tourist destinations to promote local brands and cuisine.
The community wants the tourists from areas such as Dinokeng Game Lodge and those on their way to Kruger National Park, to know that there is a Township that they can safely visit to experience the lifestyle and learn about the history of the people of Temba.
The plan is to take the tourists on bike rides in the township on a tourist route map to give tourists a closer feel of the life in Temba, similar to how it is done at Vilakazi Street in Soweto.
“The people of Soweto took it upon themselves to profile their area, we can also do it in Temba,” Mr Nhlanhla said.
During the visit to Checkersville last Saturday, discussions with the community of Checkersville were initiated to develop a project plan to paint the housing units with bright colors as part of the areas earmarked as a tourist destination.
The meeting with residents also dealt with the challenges faced by the community of Checkersville and suggestions on what can be done to develop Checkersville. This will be done in part through the participation fee of R100 contributed by the bicycle riders to buy the paint to be used to paint the housing units.
As part of the exercise to developing the content for tourists, one of the oldest residents of Checkersville, Mr Vely Baris, narrated the history of Checkersville and how the residents ended up there.
Mr Nhlanhla said, “With the part of the public relations of UF24, we realized that Temba has a rich histtory that can be used to create employment through telling the rich history and tourists visiting existing heritage sites and landmarks.
“We are hopeful that the project can benefit the economy of Temba and put Temba on the map through our digital marketing capabilities, promoting local brands and cuisines to stimulate the local economy.
“As it is enshrined in the name of Temba, we want to restore that hope that Temba can still be ‘a place of hope’,” Mr Nhlanhla said.
Interested stakeholders can contact Mr Benjamin Nhlanhla 081 399 8504/079 723 6835 or email: uf24.co.za@gmail.com for more information.
