Why European Tourists Are Visiting South African Slums (HBO)

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Why European Tourists Are Visiting South African Slums (HBO)


Cape Town is the premier tourist destination in South Africa. Wine tours, beaches, and scenic hiking are all within easy driving distance.

But if none of that sounds appealing, you can take a guided tour of a slum.

Mzu Lembeni runs one of the many tour companies that takes tourists into Cape Town’s townships, impoverished areas that were…

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29 Comments

  1. Putting people's hardships on display like this is deplorable! How dare you! Those colonizers caused this, and now you want to see the fruits of your evil! Disgusting!

  2. Dear Africa,

    You got political independence but the Semitic faith Countries are ruling you and ruining you through Christianity and Islam.

    Hence kick out Christianity and Islam from the African Continent.

    Sh

  3. Both the tourists and the guide are incredibly ignorant and biased. The Waterfront is just as much the REAL South Africa as these Townships are. That's the thing about Africa, it's not just all slums and poverty. It seemed almost as if these tourists and the guide too, wanted to reinforce all the negative things you hear about Africa. I'm sorry, but a visit to a slum is not my idea of an enjoyable holiday. The resident they interviewed was right that them, including the guide are treating them like zoo animals. They're contributing some money yes, but at what cost. One should be very sensitive when visiting these kinds of places. That Swiss lady was so creepy talking about "touching kids". Surely she wouldn't want some stranger touching HER kid, so why would she do that to someone else's kid? It's concerning that Switzerland actually had to make a law against it. You'd think it'd be common sense, but apparently not.

  4. For people who don’t get why it’s extremely creepy and wrong for the Swiss lady to so cavalierly kiss and touch all the schoolchildren, it’s very bad to accustom these children to the idea of compromising or sublimating physical boundaries in the expectation that freely engaging in physical affection with strangers will lead to donations or improvement of material conditions for their parents and community. They should be focused on learning, not worried about performing cuteness and innocence as they intuit that to be the expectation reinforced by the adults around them. This habit will also make the kids more vulnerable to predators, as they’ll potentially tolerate abusive treatment, exploitation, and boundary violation from more explicitly bad actors if they feel a sense of duty to their family to prioritize the potential for earning money.

  5. This is an extremely conservative example of townships. Most are thousands of people in tin squatters camps with a couple cars full of armed gangs and a couple donated buildings with donated schools and medical clinics. But I get that they need to be safe obviously.

  6. There is something really similar about this and youth christian mission trips when they travel to very poor places.
    And don't actually help people.
    And claim they are going there to "teach English" or something not serious.

    Note: Many Christian youth missions do actually help people in need.
    I'm talking about cases where it's just an excuse to travel to cool places.
    As opposed to really helping people.

  7. I get why these tours seem weird, and I especially don't think it's appropriate to photograph people without their permission. That said, the alternative is visiting South Africa and staying in a predominantly rich white European bubble and never actually getting to know the African cultures in the country. Just giving all my money to the wealthy instead of contributing to parts of the community that need support the most. I know people who operate independent township tours, and they do so to help their communities grow and to educate people on their culture and history. One guy I know even set up a tour for an elderly lady in a Cape Town township because she had no money and it gave her an income to cook Xhosa food for tourists and invite them in her home. He basically did all the online promotion work and getting customers for her for free, It's impactful tourism, but I agree it needs to be done right. It isn't an opportunity for your instagram.

  8. When I was 12 years old I went to South Africa with my family. We were a group of white European tourist who went to langa township just like this family in the video. We also visited the houses and schools. And I remember feeling weird. I wanted to show these kids that I was just like them. I wanted us to feel equal. But the fact that we were giving them all kinds of gifts and taking pictures with our expensive cameras just made it impossible to give them the feeling that we are equal. It did really feel odd. I wish I could have just lived with them for a day. Played soccer together. Eat together. Not just watch and take pictures. Not treat them like a tourist attraction but Treat them like a friend. It's hard to explain. Even though we helped them by donating I felt like it gave off the wrong vibes. And I felt that even though I was just a child and did not know much about the politics and apartheid.

  9. same thing in india the foreigners just love Dharavi,Mumbai.they barge into random peoples homes to see "slums".they are peoples homes.those people work hard to make a living they dont want your fake pity.just leave them alone

  10. only if we go, obeserve, listen and try to really understand, this will lead to improvements. I know Mzu Lembeni since the very year this report has been published and I think there is a lot more to be learned – e.g. I take it as a total misperception if a european lady is motivated by touching kids in the townships, since you can´t do this in your home country. This is not about visiting people like animals in a zoo – as the guy correctly said "we are human beings, not animals". Look behind the scenes and ask yourself: what need to improve for people living in poverty? What are the root causes, both globally as well as locally? What are levers to apply for a shaping a better future? – I don´t know the editors of this video, but would be happy to talk to you guys, since a lot has been happening throughout the pandemic and it´s about time to get support for the townships on the next level …

  11. the true irony: these residents get compensated by tourists but filmed w/o permission; journalists film with permission but in general due to "maintaining neutrality/integrity of story" do not compensate those they film – while everyone else involved gets paid and documentary channels often have millions of subs & views on vids!! this has been bothering me ever since i saw a doc where the reporter said he couldn't give money to maintain integrity i think he even said "i couldn't pay of course" and looking into this online it seems compensation is the exception and there is no rule on it. this is really bothering me and is making docs on famine/poverty/war unwatchable…so i hope people agree?? this needs to change currently it feels more exploitative than the music industry atleast they still get a bit out of it. not singling out this video was looking for a popular and relevant vid to bring this up on.

  12. Im from South Africa, as for that lady about the kissing and touching children I don't think we should be doing that here as well…it saddens me how people visit us as if visiting a zoo,you guys come across as so stupid to us