Perceived impacts of political legends on Eastern Cape tourism growth: A case study of King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

This paper scrutinises residents’ perceptions of political legends on tourism growth in the Eastern Cape (EC) Province, South Africa (SA). The paper specifically focuses on the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality (KSDLM) which covers Mthatha and Mqanduli. Furthermore, it needs to be borne in mind that the EC Province is home to political legends. These legends include some famous South African personalities inter alia, Nelson Mandela, Govan and Thabo Mbeki, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Chris Hani, Griffiths Mxenge, Steve Biko, and several other luminaries. Interestingly, these legends waged a protracted war of liberation against the apartheid regime. On the other hand, the EC province is one of the poorest in the country and poverty has reached unprecedented levels in the region. This paper employed a stratified random sampling approach. Moreover, face-to-face surveys were applied among the residents in the area of KSDLM. Additionally, a total of one hundred and fifteen (n=115) questionnaires were completed. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to capture and analyse the quantitative data. Whereas the qualitative data were analysed by means of categorising and conceptualising the terms and concepts used. Lastly, the key findings reveal that the vast majority of the respondents were aware of the political legends who had been raised in the area, and that there was a general development of local infrastructure resulting from the political legends’ influence in the area.

Keywords

• perceptions
• tourism growth
• legends
• eastern cape
• impacts