Community participation in the development of rural areas: a leaders’ perspective of tourism.

The development of tourism has been heralded to be a mechanism for sustainable rural development. Sustainable development of any nature requires that any efforts aimed at developing rural areas must involve the community in which the development is undertaken. This has given rise to concerted efforts by governments and development practitioners to involve local communities in development initiatives undertaken within their locale. The study analysed the importance of community participation in tourism development, with the aim to ensure the sustainable rural development of areas such as Nqileni village. This was undertaken using a qualitative research approach using semi-structured interviews to solicit data from five members of the Nqileni village community in their different capacities of leadership within the community. The data was analysed using the NVivo system, version 11. The results revealed that the community leadership viewed the participation of members of the community to be paramount in development initiatives undertaken within the area, which also allows for the building of capacity, and ultimately empowers the community to meaningfully participate in the sustainable development of the area. The results can be summed up by the view of one of the respondents who stated that there must be mutual understanding between leadership and community members on all aspects of the tourism and development projects, as this will empower the community, thus allowing for meaningful participation