MBOMBELA – If you ever meet Oupa Pilane, the first thing you might notice is his height or rather, the lack of it. He is just over five feet tall.
To put it simpler, he is short.
He’s the kind of man people might overlook in a crowded room and if you dare to underestimate him, you’d be making a big mistake. Behind his modest stature stands a giant of vision, a man whose dreams have reshaped the tourism landscape of Mpumalanga.
Pilane is the special attache for Tourism Development and Transformation at the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KLCBT), a prominent voice in Mpumalanga’s tourism sector.
Serving as the provincial chair of Southern African Tourism Services Association and a board member of South African Tourism, he’s known for championing inclusive tourism growth.
In March 2016, Pilane had an audacious idea to build the Graskop Gorge Lift. Perched on the edge of Mpumalanga’s breathtaking Panorama Route, the Graskop Gorge Lift wasn’t just built — it was dreamed into existence.
In April 2017, Oupa Pilane, alongside James Sheard and Campbell Scott, stood at the rim of that sheer cliff, staring into the green, misty abyss.
Where most saw an untamed drop, they saw a gateway to something extraordinary. With relentless determination, they brought the vision to life in just eight months — a glass-fronted lift gliding visitors down into the heart of an ancient forest.
Since opening, the Gorge has done more than wow travelers; it has pumped fresh life into the region’s tourism and created jobs.
In December 2017, Pilane unveiled the vision to the world; a crowd of curious visitors had been patiently waiting with marvel and excitement. And since the Gorge Lift opened its doors about eight years ago, more than 1,3 million visitors have marvelled at it.
“Success comes when you dare to take risks,” he says. “But you also have to learn from your failures. Every mistake teaches you something valuable.
He should have been a teacher after completing a degree in education at the University of South Africa. But his passion to change lives was bigger than the confines of a classroom. It drew him into politics, where he began to work as an organiser for the ANC and later climbed the ladder in the echelons of government, becoming a spokesperson for the Mpumalanga government and later the cabinet.
Pilane has not always been this successful. In 2012, he walked away from the safety of a government paycheck. “Some people thought I was crazy,” he admits with a chuckle.
But he had bigger dreams. Pilane partnered with Robert Gumede, a philanthropist and the founder of an IT firm known as Gijima Technologies, to establish a specialised unit that would have worked closely with local governments.
He abandoned this about three years later.
In 2015, he opened an online clothing shop, but it was another failure mainly because his clientele in Mbombela had not warmed up to the idea of online shopping. “Those failures were my school fees,” he says. “I was learning business the hard way.”
Still, he refused to give up. When everything didn’t work he then decided to start a company named Makgahla Tourism and Municipal Solutions, a consulting firm that kept him afloat while he searched for his big break.
His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is simple but firm. “Understand your market. Know who’s coming to your area but also don’t be afraid to start small — even tiny businesses can grow, and join business chambers; you’ll learn more in those rooms than from any textbook.”
Pilane is candid about the challenges in the Mpumalanga tourism sector, from poorly maintained public assets to missed opportunities by the government.
“Mpumalanga, a province that used to be a darling of domestic travellers is now languishing in position five from position two in the country, and a tourism spend of 7% meaning that for every R100 tourists have; they only spend R7,” he says.
Recently, the Mpumalanga Legislature approved a total of R1,3 billion for the department of Economic Development and Tourism for the financial year of 2025/26. To drive tourism and conserve natural heritage, the department allocated about R500 million to Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA), the custodian of 15 protected areas spread across the three district municipalities in the province.
However, Pilane has some strong reservations over the MTPA’s allocation. On 04 August, Pilane released a statement on Facebook, claiming that R490 million of the agency’s budget is reserved for salaries, leaving a small portion for actual conservation and maintenance.
“We have such a beautiful province ruined by neglect, incompetency and corruption, yet money is being allocated for maintenance and salaries every year. Tourists should have more to see, more to do, and more reasons to spend their money here,” he laments.
Away from the boardroom, Pilane is a man who leans on prayer and nature for strength: an ordained preacher. His next big dream?
Developing Mariepskop Mountain with a cable car and hotels. A project he says will empower local communities to benefit from their own land. “Be an activist in your own community. Use what you have, start where you are, and never stop learning from others.”
