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employment
:
equity
ownership : suppliers :
operators : the
LOA's
socio-economic
impact
It
is recognized that one of the major objectives for the development of the
Dinokeng Game Reserve is the economic and social upliftment of the people
living in the area. It is also recognized that the socio-economic benefits
that will be derived, must be sustainable, and therefore that the
reserve’s ecological, commercial and other activities must also be
sustainable. It is recognized that Government is primarily supporting the
development of the reserve in order to crowd in private sector investment
to generate socio-economic development benefits, facilitate tourism
industry growth and transformation as well as accelerate the take-up of
domestic tourism for the vast majority of the population that do not yet
travel as leisure tourists.
Employment
Employees
for any positions will be drawn from, in the following order of priority:
-
Local
residents currently employed in the area of the reserve working in
fields other than tourism and game reserve operations
-
Local
residents living in the area of the reserve who are unemployed
-
Local
residents from the communities surrounding the reserve
Employment
preference will be given to HDI’s and local residents for tourism and
reserve operations. To this end employers will specifically be
required, notwithstanding requirements in legislation, to report at
pre-determined intervals on the number of employees:
Trends
will be monitored and accredited on an individual operations and
reserve-wide level. There will be compliance with the Broad
Based Black Economic Empowerment Act and targets set periodically by the
tourism sector.
(HDI
= historically disadvantaged individuals who were South African Citizens
before 1994 who did not have the vote)
All
employers will ensure that transparent and fair employee recruitment;
training and development processes are adhered to. Fair wages will be paid
to all employees for appropriate levels of work, regardless of sex,
gender, race, religion or disability.
All
employers will ensure that employment contracts and conditions of
employment for their employees meet all legal and regulatory requirements.
This will include adherence to agreed minimum wages determined through a
recognized bargaining council and/or domestic employment
regulations. Generally wage levels should be higher than the average
wages in the area around the Reserve. All employers should be familiar
with the appropriate regulations that apply – the Employment Equity Act,
the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Occupational Health and Safety
Act, the Skills Development Levy Act, the Labour Relations Act etc.
All
employers will ensure that their employees are suitably trained and
qualified for their positions, and undertake to utilize the structures and
systems of the Tourism Hospitality and Sport Education and Training
Authority (“THETA”). Specifically employees will be encouraged and
incentivised to gain appropriate National Qualifications, relevant to
their jobs, whether through training or recognition of prior learning. The
target is that by 2012 80% of employees should have a recognized
qualification relevant for their jobs.
All
employers within the reserve will set-up a method of communication with
their workforce, either informal or formal and ensure that the workforce
has a mechanism through which it can communicate, debate and deal with
issues it may have with the management and owners of operations. Such a
forum should include and recognize nominated representatives of the
workforce chosen by the workforce.
All
employers will provide appropriate staff accommodation for late, shift and
managerial workers on-site as required, and for those workers living
off-site, they will provide housing assistance schemes and ensure that
reasonable transport is provided to and from the place of residence to
work.
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Equity
Ownership
All
landowners and the LOA's will endeavor to ensure that an effective portion
of equity ownership of tourism enterprises in the reserve is held by
HDI's.
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Suppliers
All
tourism or reserve operators will endeavor to procure a portion of their
inputs from BBBEE owned suppliers and local SMME's.
All
capital investors in plant or infrastructure for the reserve will endeavor
to procure a portion of their inputs from BBBEE owned suppliers and local
SMME's, and/or suppliers utilizing a high component of local labour.
All
operators of retail facilities within the reserve will stock a reasonable
proportion of locally produced goods. Retail operators together with the
LOA should facilitate the design and production of local art and crafts by
the local communities.
Fair
prices will be paid for all goods and services bought from local SMME and
BEE suppliers.
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Operators
All
operators agree to abide by all local, provincial and national regulations
that apply to the operation of their businesses. This includes all licenses
and public liability insurances required. In addition all operators
agree to abide by the prevailing South African Tourism Services
Association (“SATSA”) requirements in respect of insurances and licenses
required.
All
operators agree to follow the Responsible Tourism Handbook as issued by
the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in 2003 and as may be
updated from time to time.
All
tourism operators will become members of the appropriate local (Dinokeng)
tourism association, and will also become Tourism Marketing South Africa
(“TOMSA”) members and collect the TOMSA levy.
All
operators, where the council has a category of grading for the type of
operation, will be graded by the National Tourism Grading Council. For
more details on required accommodation establishment grading see the
Development Policy Guidelines 6.
In
all activities and operations, the operators commit to respecting the
local community and they will encourage guests to respect the culture and
mores of the community, and to interact appropriately with the local
community.
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The
LOA’s
The
LOAs will create a forum for local stakeholders within and in communities
close to the Reserve, to ensure appropriate issues can be brought to the
attention of all parties and dealt with appropriately and to ensure
effective communication with the various stakeholder groupings and to
determine the requirements of the social responsibility programme.
The
LOAs will provide a facilitation service to local people, local SMMEs,
landowners, asset owners and facility and service operators, to assist in
developing relationships and partnerships, and in the case of local SMMEs
to assist in access to advice, funders, training and other emerging
business needs. Serve the operators by pointing to partners.
The
LOA will also work with local entrepreneurs to assist them in reaching
quality and volume requirements of operators
The
LOA's will promote a local tourism culture, by organizing, with its
members and the tourism operators within the Reserve, opportunities for
local people to experience the facilities in the Reserve, through local
access days, special events etc.
The
LOA's together with its members and the tourism operators within the
Reserve, will develop a social responsibility programme for the Reserve,
which will, at its discretion support local community developmental needs
such as education and training, sanitation, sports developments etc. The
programme will commence in 2007.
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Socio-Economic
Impact
Each
landowner, asset investor and operator of facilities and services within
the Reserve will develop their own responsible tourism plan with targets
and commitments in respect of social and economic development. These plans
will be lodged with the LOA and the LOA will develop its own plan in
respect of its own operations such as gates, marketing, booking services,
and game reserve management.
The
base socio-economic data is still being collated, as is the base tourism
data and data on planned tourism developments. As an indication of
potential economic impact of the Reserve over time, a desk exercise to
quantify future economic impact has been developed. The full economic
impact is shown in Annexure A.
The
Tables below summarize the key assumptions and projections for the
economic impact of the Dinokeng Game Reserve.
They
indicate that in 2005 the reserve will generate employment for some 926
persons, rising to 1 576 by 2015. Taking into account an estimated
dependency ratio of 1.8, the employment in the Reserve will be supporting
some 4 412 people by 2015. Direct spending generated by visitors to the
Reserve within the reserve or within the surrounding areas will be a
projected R93,4 million in 2005, rising to R188,3 million in 2015 (in 2004
Rands.) In addition construction and investment spending will total R289
million over the next 10 years.
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'(extracts
taken from "DINOKENG GAME RESERVE: Socio-Economic Policy", 2005)
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