SPAIN, I was told when studying hotel management circa 1973, earned more money from tourism than South Africa did from her gold exports. This was at a time when 75 South African cents bought a US dollar and R2 bought an English pound.
Today, tourism in all its forms represents the single biggest money earner to South Africa, most of which is foreign. Furthermore, tourism is the largest overall work provider in the country. Statistically, 10 tourists generate a job.
The country, and particularly the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, have enjoyed better than average visitor figures over the last two years. The reason for this is not space science, it is simply the exchange rate which makes South Africa a most affordable destination to Europeans even compared to neighbouring tourist destinations within the European community.
This boom is currently under threat. This threat, simply put, is that we have frankly become a dirty country in terms of littering and garbage management.
I am aware that filth and degradation is the curse of the very poor and waste coupled with apathy is the vice of the very wealthy, but this notwithstanding, the harsh truth is we are burying ourselves in trash. The upshot will be that apart from our own personal shame, we are getting frighteningly close to the point where you won't be able to give this country away as a holiday destination.
I, with the financial help of a handful of B&Bs in the Addo area, keep as far as possible a 15km stretch of road verge clear of litter. My "parish" stretches from the northern outer limits of the little town of Addo (currently buried in garbage) to the Addo Elephant National Park turnoff on the R335/342 and a stretch along the R336.
Using limited funds and employing the unemployed, I keep, to a point, this area relatively clean. The trouble is it is a losing battle, for within 48 hours, the road appears as before.
Cleanliness and national pride simply does not exist within the human psyche. My last clean-up operation produced 90 bin bags of garbage in a three hour period of work.
To add sauce to the meal, the local landfill in Sunland, supposedly managed by our local authority, is so out of hand that currently the garbage has spread into the adjacent cemetery, covering graves, and has completely covered the access road. The local townships of Valencia and Nomathamsaqa have no garbage skips or any means at all of depositing garbage.
Cleanliness, national pride and personal values begin in the home and at school, and should be supported by government. I herewith make a personal plea to a nation somewhat lost on its course to get back on track, and take ownership of the problem and control it in every small way possible.
We must clean up, or like the garbage, perish into an abyss of perpetual decay.
Conor Ward, Addo