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Post Covid, South Africa is back in business

Source: City Pres, 28/07/2022

There’s an isiZulu idiom that posits, ‘Isisu somhambi singangenso yenyoni.’ Directly translated, it suggests that a visitor’s belly (satiation capacity) is as small as the size of a bird’s kidney. But, this translation belies the profound and instructive meaning.
The true and deeper meaning speaks to the unstoppable spirit of hospitality, generosity and sharing of what little you have. A spirit so innate to African life that extending these courtesies even to a total stranger who just so happens to visit one’s home is considered no burden at all.
In the traditional, rustic village life of old, it was not uncommon for a weary traveler far from home, battered by the day’s travels, troubles and toils to at dusk approach any home on his or her path in this spirit, and be welcomed in that unique ubuntu-inspired hospitality.
Despite the vastly changed social setting in our country, that spirit of ubuntu has never left us as a people. The genuineness of the smiles we give visitors when they come to our shores, going out of our way to assist them where they need directions or recommendations for the best braai spot, the soul and passion we pour into our conversations and the laughter and dance when we entertain are some of the traits that consistently rank highly when tourists from various parts of the world are asked about their experiences in our beautiful country.
To think that we, as Africans in the southern tip of our continent, are an anomaly in this regard would be complete folly. And, I suspect no one knows this better than Boipelo Tladinyane Hlubi, who bears the truly unique honour of having visited 54 of the continent’s 55 countries in an epic backpacking adventure.
See, Boipelo told delegates at the recently concluded Africa’s Travel Indaba about the incredible hospitality of the people she encountered and that hit home powerfully once again. She told of the intrigued-yet-warm African smiles with which she was received into and sheltered overnight in people’s homes, allowed to sleep on a rooftop and at the beach, among many overnight stays.
I also imagine the journey her palate must have also taken, from pap and nyama in the south to sadza ne nyama in Zimbabwe, nshima and kapenta in Zambia, to ugali na nyama choma in Kenya, to yam and egusi in Nigeria, and fufu and njama njama in Cameroon. Notice how many of the above-mentioned dishes refer to meat in some iteration of the word nyama? It and several others are the emphatic etymological proclamation - we are one!
Boipelo no doubt returned with tons of stories from her travels, as her book, A Safari Back to Self, attests. But equally, she undoubtedly imparted her “South African-ness” to those she encountered, as much as those countries all deposited something into the person she is today.
This is what my Ghanaian counterpart Koffi Atta Kakra Kusi had in mind when he told us at Africa’s Travel Indaba that the story of Africa can be told through our heritage, natural resources, culture and traditions, as well as our values and customs as a people.
So, allow me to lay down a challenge for you, my fellow South Africans. This is a challenge that is perhaps aptly captured by the colloquialism: ‘Let’s keep it real’. Let us be true to who we are, as a people. Let us be true to the values of our unimpeachable humanity that has over generations enamoured us with people the world over. Let us not grow weary of extending the kind of ‘give you the shirt off my back’, exuberant hospitality and generosity.
After all, the economic benefits of doing so commend themselves. In the first three months of this year, for example, there were 1 047 558 international tourist arrivals into our country, representing a much-needed 170.7% increase when compared to the same period last year. Of those, a landslide 778 313 were tourists from other countries in our continent, rendering Europe, our second-biggest source market, with a contribution of 192 494 tourists, minuscule by comparison. Importantly, these visitors spent millions of rands staying in our lodges, hotels and B&Bs, eating out at restaurants, hiring vehicles and shuttles, and shopping in our malls and flea markets.
But, beyond the rands and cents sense of it all, our disposition is and should always be of arms wide open and ready to welcome. This is especially true in the year that marks exactly 20 years since the ideal of an African Renaissance was born, with the launch of the African Union in our ever-warm city of Durban.
I can think of no better way to take individual ownership of and give full meaning and content to our former president Thabo Mbeki’s timeless words: “Being part of all these people and in the knowledge that none dare contest that assertion, I shall claim that I am an African” than to be as exuberant as ever in our hospitality.
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