Tleane, Elizabeth M.2024-08-292024-08-292024-06-24https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14519/549Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Economics in Comparative Local Development in the Faculty of Economics and Finance: Tshwane University of Technology.The goal of the study was to investigate the effect that the preservation of cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites as a tool for development could have on the development of the communities. The problem statement was extracted from the issue of government’s declining involvement in preserving the cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites in SA. There is also limited research on the effect that these cultural aspects, when used as a development tool, have on the development of communities. The main study objective was to investigate the effect that preserving cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites as a tool for development would have on the development of the communities, also considering the factors that contribute to the success of preservation. The secondary objectives were formulated as follows: 1) To examine whether the cultural heritage festivals are still taking place to clarify the preservation of their existence through government funding;2) To determine whether the cultural heritage sites are still standing and maintained for the purposes of developing the communities;3) To observe and assess the government’s involvement in preserving the cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites to help with the development of communities;4) To examine the participation of the community members on the cultural heritage related activities. The research questions that were addressed were as follows: 1) How might the preservation of cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites used as a tool for development affect the development of communities? 2) Which cultural heritage festivals are still happening within the communities? 3) Which condition is the heritage sites in currently and how many people visit them to learn about the country’s heritage and culture? 4) How involved is the government in assisting with the preservation of the cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites? 5) What is the participation rate of the community members in cultural heritage festivals and how many visit heritage sites? 6) What are the factors that could hinder the cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites from having a positive effect? The methodology and procedure for data collection employed in this study were constructed on the qualitative data. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a total of 16 community members, with direct observation of cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites. The study revealed that there would be a positive effect on the development of communities when cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites were preserved as a tool for development. The study showed the importance of preserving these two cultural aspects for the development of the communities. The limitations of the study were that the study only focused on the cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites in Gauteng province. This study could contribute to a better understanding of the effects of the preservation of cultural activities, as manifested through cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites, on the development of the communities in the South African context. The study also addressed the issues of community participation, government involvement, the continuance of cultural heritage festivals and the maintenance of the heritage sites structures. Recommendations for future research were that future studies should examine the ability of the government to preserve the cultural heritage festivals and heritage sites. Another recommendation is that future studies should investigate these cultural aspects by including all the provinces and using more people to collect the data. It should also make use of focus groups of men and women of different cultural groups to explore their experience of their cultures. Community members should participate more often in these cultural events to see positive results.79 PagesenCC0 1.0 Universalhttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/Cultural heritage festivalsHeritage sitesCommunity developmentThesis