A Dream of Hope
Cato Manor Tourism is a community led initiative to create jobs through tourism by stimulating the development of tours, arts and crafts and traditional song and dance in this historically rich and culturally diverse area. Once the site of forced removals, the multi-million rand development is a fine example of the rebirth of a community torn apart by apartheid.


Welcome to Cato Manor
Cato Manor Tourism offers a window to this world, and our Visitor Centre at Intuthuko Junction is the gateway and starting point to a fascinating portrayal of this important chapter in South African history. Here, you will find a museum, internet cafe, curio shop, conference centre and a tourist info booking office. Accompany one of the community tour operators as they put you in touch with urban reality tourism by providing a guided and incisive look into life in Cato Manor.


Behind the Project

In 1995 the Cato Manor urban renewal project was designated a Presidential Lead Project of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), targeting the renewal of key urban areas that had been neglected by the apartheid regime. In 1997 significant funding was received from the European Union to boost support from the RDP and eThekwini Municipality.


Local artists and crafters will benifit from
this initiative to create jobs through tourism

The Future in the Making
Cato Manor is one of the success stories in the redevelopment of South Africa. Designed to be an efficient and productive 'city within a city' to help Durban's poor and marginalized residents, Cato Manor is well advanced in the making. Secure tenure and infrastructure and services will provide a safe living and working environment and economic opportunities for the community. Where not long ago dust swept across the remnants of razed homes, now schools, libraries, community halls and business centres buzz with optimism.

A People Divided
Cato Manor epitomises the history of social engineering in South Africa - racial confrontation and hostility,
the trauma of forced removals under unjust and divisive racist laws, the adversity of poverty and lack of resources, the development of resistant and militant forces against oppression.


A People United
However, the flame of hope could not be extinguished and the militancy of the many political activists who took refuge there re-ignited the spirit of Umkhumbane. In spite of all the adversity (or perhaps inspired by it), Cato Manor is the birthplace of a unique and rich cultural and creative outpouring of art, theatre, literature and music that Cato Manor Tourism plans to put in the spotlight

Aims of the awareness campaign

  • To prepare the community for tourism development.
  • To educate people about tourism as a business.
  • To identify business and job opportunities.

What is tourism?

  • Tourism is people visiting a place for business or for pleasure. It is also businesses providing services to tourists, such as hotels, tour guides, craft sellers, entertainment etc.

What is a tourist?

  • A tourist is a person who visits places and uses tourism services.
  • There are local tourists from within the country, and foreign tourists from other countries.

What are the benefits of tourism?

  • It creates business and job opportunities.
    It improves infrastructure to accommodate the influx of visitors.
  • It helps to boost growth in the local economy.

What can you do to promote tourism?

  • Support Tourism Cato Manor.
    Work together as a team.
  • Respect and protect tourists who visit your area.
  • Be friendly to tourists.
  • Keep your area clean



A tour guide takes tourists to a township tavern.


Tourism creates business and job opportunities


Traditional crafts make ideal gifts for tourists.

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