Velile And His Mdantsane Township Tours

Velile Ndlumbini - Owner Of Imonti Tours

Velile Ndlumbini is the one and only you can not pass by when talking about the Mdantsane township. We are very pleased to tell his story today. This interview has been long overdue.

Velile is an integral, motivated and important role player in the East London business community. As the owner of  Imonti Tours he has been conducting township tours to Mdantsane for many years.

When you meet Velile for the first time you can not not notice the aura that surrounds him. We were shooting the movie "Mdantsane Another African Story" and our German cameraman's remark when filming him was: "What an impressive personality".

To this package of charisma and originality he adds an infatuating smile and an absolute positive outlook on life.

"I am willing to try out many things as long as they are positive" he says with that broad smile on his face. 

Velile touring Mdantsane - on our backseat this time

Black man, African entrepreneur, successful business owner, who has left his mark on the East London business community little by little. Married and a father of a turbulent three year old boy. 

We have asked him what is his recipe for success, if there is one? And how and why did he start the Mdantsane township tours in a township, that nobody knows, in a province that is regarded the poorest of South Africa. How did the boy born in the Transkei at the Wildcoast become the successful man he is today?

Coming in contact with locals

Velile comes from the Libode area in the Transkei. An amazingly beautiful but isolated, rough land that the Xhosa people have inhabited since centuries. After school he decided to study tourism.

"But like many others of my generation I could not finish my studies due to family and financial problems", says Velile," however this was not a reason for me to give up on my dreams and plans. There is one thing I have learned in life, that you need a support system. You can not win alone"

Velile saw an opportunity in his immediate environment, that nobody from the tourism industry had seen before. One of the great overseas Mercedes Benz production plants is situated in East London. That meant there would be always German expatriates working in East London. And they would have visitors from their country on a regular basis.

" I had the idea of organizing township tours in Mdantsane many years back. But when I saw the potential of Mdantsane  I started doing my research".

Township tours became the in-thing after South Africa became independent in 1994 and today millions of tourists of hundreds of different nationalities are rolling in big air conditioned buses through the streets of Soweto and Khayelitsha. 

Velile traveled Johannesburg and Cape Town and booked himself township tours for Soweto,  Kayelistha and other townships as well.

I took the best of everything I had seen and designed my own tour for Mdantsane

"I observed very carefully how the tour organizers conducted their tours. I made notes and I looked at all the details. Then I took the best of every tour to design my own tour for Mdantsane".

No time to waste- follow your dreams even if it is difficult and accept help

Once he knew what he wanted, he did not waste time to prepare the process of becoming a registered tour guide and setting up his own business.

And he had help from a German lady in her mid fifties, the wife of a German Mercedes Benz employee who had immigrated 30 years ago to East London and had made South Africa his home. 

Velile described his relationship with Gabriele Renz as a mother and son connection. The warm hearted, very educated and generous woman helped him in many ways. 

At the time Velile did not have a car and Gabriele drove him to the places and institutions he needed to see. 

Apart from that, Gabriele, who worked as a free lance translator for Mercedes Benz had many connection in the German community. 

"Gabriele was one of those people who could genuinely feel for others and her death is a great loss to me. I could not believe it" said Velile about the sudden death  of Gabriele who died last year of lung cancer.  

Showing other people that townships are interesting

 "I organized my tours in such a way, that my visitors can establish a personal contact with the inhabitants of Mdantsane. We do not only drive through the township and take them to an eatery. Instead I have selected families, we buy and bring food to them and my overseas visitors can enjoy a traditional meal in a the home of a Mdantsane family", explains Velile.

"And that is only one of the possibilities, that I create for the tourists to interact with the locals"

Velile is without any doubt the black man that is most known to the German community in East London. 

His business card is handed over from one frequent visitors receiving German expat-wife to the next. 

"Here is Velile Ndlumbini's number you might hear them say. He can take your visitors for a day off your hands". 

Chilling out

A foreigner, often isolated in the East London community, will understand better the mentality and the life style of the locals if he is going on a tour with Imonti Tours.

Something collectable

Velile will make you eat local food, smell local medicine, dance the local dances, drive the sometimes bumpy Mdantsane roads ( so you can feel later you have been to a different place) but all the while he will take good care of your security and life.

A place worth to see

And if times get a bit more difficult you don't have to be shy to get your hands dirty  and to do the things yourself, he says.

Beauty growing up in Mdantsane