TOURISM CONSTRAINTS OF UMLAZI TOWNSHIP RESIDENTS ...

y a high rate of social instability and the quality of life for a majority of SouthAfricans leaves much to be desired.In 1991 McLeod wrote about the youth ofSouth Africa in the TIME magazine. Hereferred to these yOllllg people as the lost generation. These are millions of youngmen who have been destroyed by apartheid and the liberation struggle. They are thedeprived youth who live in the black urban townships "where the standard fourroomhouse shelters an average often people" (MacLeod, 1991).According to Nigel Worden (1994) Umlazi township is one of the areas wherepolitical tensions ran high in the 1980's. He further points out that the conflict inNatal grew in intensity when elsewhere it was suppressed. This left behind thesedestroyed young men.The youth that was destroyed during this period became school drop-outs who arenot employed.They are unable to get jobs because of the high rate ofunemployment in South Africa, but particularly because they are not skilled.These young men are highly stressed. Their stress is manifested in the high rate ofcrime and violence that South Africa is facing at the moment. Exposure to creativeways ofspending their leisure time can do much to improve the quality oflife ofthisyOllllg generation. Tourism is one way in which they would dispose oftheir leisuretime positively.11