How Drostdy Hotel and SACT are Empowering Women in Hospitality
Karoo, South Africa, July 27, 2026 / TRAVELINDEX / In the Karoo town of formerly Graaff-Reinet, a national monument is doing something unusual with its five stars. Drostdy Hotel, known for its Cape Dutch architecture, is owned by the South African College for Tourism (SACT) and functions as the college’s training ground.
SACT was founded in 2001 by Dr Anton Rupert, with a specific mandate: economic empowerment and professional development for unemployed young women from rural South Africa. Now the hotel and the college sit under one leadership structure, pairing five-star operations with grassroots education.
Tebello Polisane-Casper heads up both. As Executive Director at both Drostdy Hotel and SACT, her job is to close the gap between what students learn in the classroom and what luxury hospitality demands in real time.
It is a leadership structure that enables a united and effective team, focused on personal growth and collective achievement. “Not only is it a huge honour to manage both these institutions, but the alignment of Drostdy Hotel and SACT under a single leadership mandate reinforces the overall vision for a seamless integration of education and industry-leading hospitality,” Polisane-Casper explains.
What separates SACT from a standard hospitality course is where the training happens. Students aren’t rehearsing service standards in a mock-up dining room – they’re rostered onto the floor of a working five-star hotel, handling paying guests, real bookings and real complaints, with mistakes that carry real consequences.
It also matters who gets access to that kind of training. Rural, unemployed young women are rarely first in line for placements at five-star properties – those roles tend to go to graduates who already have a foot in the industry. By building the classroom inside the hotel, SACT collapses that barrier: a student’s CV lists Drostdy itself, not a simulated placement, from day one.
Modelling mentorship
Polisane-Casper has spent 16 years in hospitality, starting as a student waiter. Globally, women make up most of the tourism workforce but remain scarce in its executive ranks – a gap she sees the Drostdy-SACT model working against directly.
“Women in leadership positions serve as vital role models and mentors,” she says. “By demonstrating competence, resilience and initiative, we inspire the next generation to realise their potential. Tourism is a live environment – our young women are dealing with people as it happens, and graduating with hands-on, high-end experience.”
For Polisane-Casper, it’s about walking the talk. “The hospitality industry is not for the faint-hearted, but it can be so rewarding if you stay focused,” she says. “True empowerment is about collaboration, not competition. I envision a future where professional women actively support each other and, as the saying goes, fix each other’s crowns.”
That approach shows up at every level of the hotel. Anra Smith started as an intern reservationist and is now the Drostdy’s Wine Shop and Events Manager, 16 years later.
“Being a good leader is about listening, being patient and helping your team do their best,” Smith says. She points to the college’s proximity to the hotel as part of what makes the culture work: “We have a responsibility to create a grounded, compassionate space where these students can learn, sometimes fail, and ultimately find their footing in a high-pressure environment.”
Seventy years after the 1956 women’s march, Graaff-Reinet offers a working example of what that legacy can look like in an industry built on service: a heritage site turned into a pipeline for the women it once would have excluded from its front-of-house.
For more information, visit drostdy.co.za/sact-college/.