TOURISM

King Shaka Route

This project seeks to create a wholistic tourism route for the district with the aim to;

• Increase visitor numbers to the area by offering a wholistic tourism experience which includes the historical and cultural aspects in addition to beautiful coastal experiences
• Increase the length of stay of tourists by offering more to see and do whilst in the region
• Open-up more entrepreneurial & commercial opportunities within the tourism space for communities to participate and benefit from

The Conceptual Plan, Business Plan and Implementation Plan have been developed and is currently in the implementation phase. This project has also been identified as a priority in the KZN Tourism Master Plan.

WowZulu Market

The iLembe WowZulu marketplace situated at Sangweni Tourism Centre in Ballito is one of the seven that are found across KwaZulu Natal. One of its main objective is to create sustainable employment with about forty crafters from iLembe District supplying the WowZulu Marketplace. The marketplace consists of a craft shop, tourism information with maps, story-boards and brochures that profile the tourism offerings of iLembe, and friendly hosts who introduce visitors to the area’s tourist attractions, history and culture, children’s games and story-tellers who perform fables and other stories of the area.

VINEYARDS & WINERY

The objective of the project is to plant and harvest vines with the intention of producing wine and brandy. Villard Blanc has been identified as a grape cultivar that is ideal for the coastline of KwaZulu-Natal as it is resistant to humidity.

The iLembe Vineyards project is the perfect combination between agriculture and tourism giving it an advantage as a value adding Agri tourism business.

The objectives of the project:

The objective of the project is to establish 10 hectares of vineyards and ultimately 40 hectares of vines over a number of farms and to establish a single winery/ microbrewery with the capacity to handle the production of all the grapes producing still wines, dessert sweet wines and brandies.

Current status of the project:

Enterprise iLembe harvested the first grapes in February 2013, three (3) years after the first vine was planted. To date 10.1 hectares of vines have been planted across 3 local municipalities and 16 000 liters of dry white wine has been bottled. Plans to expand the vineyards and plant a different cultivar are under way. The brand conceptualized, is established under the name “1787”, after the birth date of King Shaka.

This project has created 49 direct jobs to date.

MANUFACTURING

This sector is mainly characterised by the following types of industries:

• Primary sector comprises of heavy industries, such as sugar and paper mill production in the Isithebe Industrial Estate in Mandeni
• Secondary sector activities include light industries that are prevalent throughout the district and with a focus on the rural areas of the district.

The manufacturing sector is clustered in Isithebe and is surrounded by informal settlements created by employment opportunities within the area. The manufacturing sector processes raw materials into finished products such as paper, clothing, furniture and electrical appliances. The sector comprises of heavy industries such as sugar and paper mills. The Compensation/Ballito area north of the new King Shaka International Airport has been identified as a special economic opportunity zone. Several light industrial parks such as Imbonini offer high quality mini – factories and stand-alone factory ware- house developments for lease or purchase.

RETAIL, SERVICES, and ICT

Broadband

The broadband Project aimed to capitalise on the launch of Seacom undersea fibre optic cable on the north coast.

iLembe District Municipality currently holds a private Telecommunications network License, which can be used to provide more affordable telephony and internet access to Government institutions and community facilities in the district.

A feasibility study was completed and highlighted the benefits to rural communities in terms of access to telecommunications, access to markets and increased digital capacity.

The objective of the pre-feasibility was based on the objectives as set out in IDM’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP) which aimed at promoting local economic development, and expanding Broadband to rural communities, this would ultimately in turn, reduce the socio-economic gap between the rich and poor areas.

Current Status of the Project;

Phase one of the project was completed in 2012, the aim of the project was to prove the feasibility of inter-municipal interconnectivity and to establish infrastructure across the district to make this possible. Phase two, of the project kicked off in 2015 and is a partnership between Enterprise iLembe and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa. The objectives of the project can be listed as to Enhance  the Broadband strategy, by deploying fibre optic cables along the PRASA railway line infrastructure, to enable back haul connectivity to the urban, semi urban and some rural nodes within the District .

Shopping Centre

Ballito on the burgeoning North Coast is set to get a R1.4 billion regional mall with leading developers and investors, the Menlyn Maine and Flanagan & Gerard consortium, acquiring Ballito Junction Shopping Centre together with the adjacent undeveloped land and development rights.

The acquisition of the existing 11 000 square metre mall and prime 10 hectare property at the entrance to Ballito, will see Ballito Junction expanded to a massive 65 000 square metres, transforming it into the area’s first regional shopping centre. Development rights that exist on the site allow for the centre to be further expanded to 90 000 square metres and “super-regional” shopping centre status.

The largest single property development in Ballito since the Zimbali Resort – is due to commence later this year and be complete in March 2017. The new mega-mall is being developed to meet the retail and leisure needs of a growing and affluent market on the KZN North Coast.

Flanagan & Gerard is one of South Africa’s foremost shopping centre developers. The joint-venture in KZN will see these two groups bring their extensive property expertise together in developing a vibrant new retail and leisure hub in Ballito.

NATIONAL SCHOOLS NUTRITION PROGRAMME

This is a flagship project, where the Department of Education appointed Enterprise iLembe as the implementing agent for the implementation of the National School’s Nutrition Programme. The pilot project was initiated in January 2013 with the noble aim of supplying quality vegetables to more than 155 000 children in some 400 rural primary, secondary and special schools within the District. These vegetables would then be further prepared into wholesome and nutritious meals for the learners. The children live in some of the poorest communities in the province, and that welcome meal, comprising a range of fresh vegetables, enables them to concentrate on their studies, during the day.

The Schools Nutrition Programme is a poverty alleviation project; it is also providing a much-needed income for the 600-plus farmers and transport cooperatives involved in the supply chain. The number of employment opportunities increases as more farmers and transport service providers are identified.

Vegetables such as butternut, cabbage, spinach, green beans, tomatoes and onions have been grown for schools by co-operatives farmers in the four local municipalities of the region: Ndwedwe, Maphumulo, Mandeni and KwaDukuza. Approximately, 54 tons of vegetables are supplied through these farms on a weekly basis during the school termvis, this is 84% of the required amount of vegetables needed on a weekly basis for the National School’s Nutrition Programme.

Several provincial government departments are involved in the project, such as the Department of Agriculture, which provides some of the agricultural inputs and implements

As a value adding component, the vegetables are transported to agricultural hubs-cold storage facilities before being packed into the correct consignments to be distributed to each school as allocated by the Department of Education. Packaged vegetables are then transported by appointed Transport Cooperatives to the schools. At the schools the meals are prepared by dedicated food handlers.