Caption:(left)Deputy Police Minister, Cassel Mathale, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Makhotso Sotyu, and Hotel 247 owner, Khosi Mthalane, unveiling the plaque to officially launch the restaurant
Deputy Minister Sotyu detailed how Mthalane, with more than two decades of experience in FMCG and hospitality, made a bold decision in 2021 at the height of COVID-19 to acquire the property previously known as Forever White River.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, when tourism businesses worldwide were fighting for survival, Mrs Mthalane acquired the property previously known as Forever White River. At a time of enormous uncertainty, she chose to invest. When tourism had effectively come to a standstill, she chose to believe in its future. And when many businesses were scaling back, she chose to build,” Sotyu said.
According to the Deputy Minister, Mthalane rebranded and repositioned the property as Hotel 247 and committed her own capital, experience, and energy to making the business work, furthermore identifying possibility before everyone else can.
The Deputy Minister said Hotel 247 exemplifies why mechanisms like the Tourism Transformation Fund, implemented by the Department of Tourism in partnership with the NEF(National Empowerment Fund), are critical. The hotel’s investment package reportedly brought together grant support through the Fund, NEF financing, and the owner’s own contribution.
“This is precisely why mechanisms such as the Tourism Transformation Fund are so important. The purpose is not simply to provide funding. It aims to unlock commercially viable businesses and enable entrepreneurs to establish, expand, and improve tourism assets,” she said.
Sotyu said sustainable transformation is not about handing somebody a business, but It is about backing entrepreneurs who are themselves prepared to invest, take risks, build enterprises and create value.
She furthermore stated that the true measure of the programme is not money approved, but what it enables – at Hotel 247, renovations, restaurant expansion, new furnishings, and alternative-energy infrastructure that strengthened the product and created jobs.
“Funding must become assets. Assets must become businesses. Businesses must become jobs, procurement opportunities, market access and sustainable local economic activity. That is how transformation becomes meaningful,” she said.
She stressed that tourism is not just leisure, but economic activity that creates jobs where people live, particularly in Mpumalanga’s key corridor linking to the Kruger National Park, God’s Window, and the Panorama Route.
“Government cannot build the tourism economy alone. The private sector cannot do it alone. Development-finance institutions cannot do it alone. Entrepreneurs cannot do it alone. But when we bring those capabilities together, we can unlock investment that might otherwise never happen. Hotel 247 demonstrates the value of that partnership,” she said.
Concluding, Sotyu said the next chapter must be about sustainability, stronger occupancy, and market access.
“Our hope is that Hotel 247 will continue to grow. That more visitors will walk through these doors. That more people will find employment here. That more local businesses will enter its supply chain. Ultimately, transformation must be visible in who owns tourism assets. It must be visible in who participates in its value chains. It must be visible in who benefits from its growth,” the Deputy Minister said.
