Khayelitsha's Lookout Hill: From tourism beacon to abandoned white elephant

Khayelitsha’s former "beacon of hope, which was built for local and international tourists”, the Lookout Hill Tourism Centre was now a white elephant, according to Parliament’s tourism watchdog.

This comes after the Portfolio Committee on Tourism completed its three-day oversight visit programme on Friday in the Western Cape at the Lookout Hill Centre.

The committee said they "discovered that the centre lost its tourist attraction since 2010 although its potential regarding location in the historical attractive False Bay area of the City of Cape Town remains intact." 

The centre is strategically located in the middle of the Spine Road that connects Khayelitsha with potential tourists that enter the City through N1, N2 national roads and Cape Town International Airport. 

The committee’s chairperson, Ronaldo Nalumango, said the centre is a white elephant which has lost its glory. 

“The committee noted that in maintaining the existence of the centre, even if there is no value it adds currently, the Department of Tourism spends money on repairs to the roof, which is beginning to crumble.

“The committee will invite the City of Cape Town to share its reimagination of the centre, which can be a vibrant economic hub of Khayelitsha that can create opportunities for development and alleviate the frontiers of crime that besiege one of South Africa’s biggest townships.

“The centre comprises of a restaurant, craft hives, exhibition spaces and access to the wooden boardwalk to the summit. The committee found that there was only one tour operator operating, no crafters on site and the restaurant is closed,” Nalumango said.

The committee held a stakeholder engagement with tour operators, tour guides and businesses in the area and surrounding townships.

The Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) told the committee that they do not want to remain at the SMMEs level; they want to move to the mainstream tourism industry level.

The stakeholders also informed the committee about the high crime, which includes extortion that pushes back tourism business opportunities in Khayelitsha. 

Although they admitted that the fight against crime should start with the community, they urged the committee to assist in ensuring effective government intervention and support in the fight against the rapidly rising crime.

The Khayelitsha Development Forum’s Mbulelo Dwane has, however, said that the centre is not a white elephant and it has paying tenants.

“If there are tenants in the building, and they are making a business, that's not a white elephant. Or, unless I don't know, or I don't understand English.

“The City of Cape Town must admit that they failed to properly manage Lookout Hill or admit that they have dismally failed, or admit there was an arrangement from their side to look like they are failing to manage Lookout Hill so they can lease it out to these establishments."

He said that the community remains steadfast that they would not allow any external party or business to come in to occupy that space without community involvement.

GOOD’s Brett Herron said, over the years, there have been great and noble intentions with the development of Khayelitsha Lookout. 

“It is unfortunate that the dream of what Khayelitsha Lookout could become for local economic and township tourism was left as a dream. The centre was built, but the local economic and tourism opportunities were never nurtured or supported.

“There is a habit in Cape Town, and elsewhere, of tokenism. Khayelitsha's Lookout is an example. The state-of-the-art facility was built, but there was no programme to build its functionality and to support micro traders to build a business with the Lookout as the catalyst.

City spokesperson, Luthando Tyhalibongo, said the City acknowledges the present condition of the facility and is actively undertaking measures to address it.

“It is the City’s intention to reposition the Lookout Hill facility from a static tourism site into a world-class hybrid hub of activity. Through a partnership with a leading workspace operator, the City envisages the implementation of a sustainable turnaround model that brings together professional infrastructure and local entrepreneurial talent,” Tyhalibongo said.

“This initiative is intended to stimulate economic activity in Khayelitsha, with a particular focus on the hospitality, tourism and creative sectors, while laying the foundation for long-term, inclusive growth.”

Cape Times