If one thing stands out about Limpopo for me, it is that it’s an inside-out province. The towns, in general, offer no attraction whatsoever while the country areas are stunning! The towns, generally, are a mess!
One Polokwane product owner on CapeInfo wrote to say that Limpopo Tourism is embarking on a roadshow to find out why the province isn’t getting its share of international tourists. I would have thought the answer is quite simple. The lodges are world-class but that doesn’t spread tourism around, and the towns are best forgotten in any tourist’s itinerary. Locals are accustomed to what they have; you need to look at the province through a visitor’s eyes.
Looking at Mokopane as an example: the Mogalakwena municipality covers an area of 1,683km² and comprises three towns, 117 villages, nine traditional leaders and five kingdoms. The municipal area has a population of over 300,000 — certainly no dorp — of which 38% is under the age of 14. Almost 96% is black followed by whites at 4% and Indians/Asians/Coloureds combined at about 0.4%. The Indian/Asian group has a long history in the town and is proportionately the most economically active, even having its own school.
Is it a sustainable town that can meet the needs and aspirations of its citizens? I think the answer is an emphatic “No!” as things stand.
The Town
The town has no urban design framework or aesthetic controls. If I speak to bankers, as good a yardstick as any, business in the town is not good. If the town doesn’t develop a clear vision — which is not just about service delivery but rather economic growth and social development — its inexorable slide will continue.
Now I don’t believe that Waterberg towns like Mokopane, Mookgopong, Modimolle and Bela Bela have the resources or abilities to tackle what needs to be done. And since it is a province-wide problem and challenge, it needs to be addressed at a higher level.
The Waterberg regional authority could establish or engage the necessary skills and provide a service to all the towns in the district. Good urban design and aesthetic control is a prerequisite for economic opportunity and successful businesses. (Cape Agulhas Municipality did this to very good effect for the several towns it administers about 10 years ago.)
Towns also need to establish formal public/private partnerships so that everybody reads from the same book. (Both Johannesburg’s Inner City and Cape Town have done this with great success.)
The Mines
AngloPlatinum has the largest mine in the area so most comments will be directed at them and, unfortunately, I need to draw comparisons between what they do in Mokopane and what Rio Tinto has done in Phalaborwa. I have no doubt whatsoever that Anglo means to do well in the town, but I believe they need to rethink their corporate social responsibility programme.
- In Mokopane, Anglo donates generously to many ad hoc projects in the town, often just paying for things the municipality can’t afford… with little legacy impact. Anglo’s refurbishment of the town’s swimming pool (which had been closed for years) was rather wasted. It’s still closed because the municipality can’t find a life-guard to be on duty. In Phalaborwa, Rio Tinto established the Palabora Foundation with initial funding of R176 million. It does excellent work and has made a big difference to the town. (In Musina, the Local Economic Development official said they had been trying to get Anglo to establish a similar foundation there.)
- In Phaloborwa, the mine sold the golf course to a private developer because it was not their core business. Developers turned the golf course into the world-famous Hans Merensky Estate — today of the town’s greatest assets and attractions. In Mokopane, the municipality swapped the golf course for services the mine provided to the town. Wasn’t this an opportunity lost?
I don’t believe that Anglo is doing nearly enough to prepare the town for the day when it retrenches all its workers, or retrenches large numbers (as it did in 2009) during the next slump in the platinum price. As things stand now, Mokopane lives or dies by the mine’s fortunes. If “Diamonds are Forever,” mines are certainly not!
The ticking time bomb — housing the poor
Driving into Modimolle recently, I saw a sign advertising “Sustainable Houses” on large plots. How the hell can they make that claim, I asked myself?
I worked at the Mitchells Plain Planning Unit in the mid-1970s. The original rental plans had been scrapped and the challenge was to build affordable housing that people wanted to buy. We built full-scale, furnished mockup houses inside an old factory and thousands of families passed through, being educated about choices and what they could afford. We adapted the existing mock-ups and built more as we refined the process in response to visitor comments. Matching expectations and affordability was a very difficult task.
The fact that South Africa has plenty of land does not mean that one can afford urban sprawl. One simply cannot meet expectations of paved roads & street lighting, water & stormwater reticulation, waterborne sewage, refuse removal, and even schools, health and sporting facilities nearby when you have large plot sizes and low densities. It’s just not possible!
Urban sprawl also adds to the costs of all road networks and personal transport expenses. Successful towns of the future will be those that are the most efficient for those who live there.
Central government’s infrastructure grants may address some expectations in poorer areas, but it’s the municipality’s responsibility to maintain and service the infrastructure, but that alone will be sufficient to bankrupt municipalities or mean that the level of service they render is vastly diminished.
Large plots could be partially justified if they were used to sustain the inhabitants with extensive planting of vegetables and fruit, but this doesn’t happen, or it’s the exception… there is no water!
I attended a meeting of township residents on the outskirts of Mokopane where the only service they receive is electricity from Eskom. (They have to buy water from those residents that do have boreholes.) “What do they need most?” I asked. “Jobs and job opportunities,” was the unanimous reply. Municipalities need to rethink their roles.
What was possible and affordable 50 years ago is not possible today. Towns and townsfolk trapped in the past are doomed to failure.
Mokopane faces even greater challenges. Many of its citizens live on tribal lands and pay minimal rentals to tribal chiefs. The municipality collects no rates and taxes. It’s going to take brave and inspired leadership to tackle these challenges.
What sort of future can the town guarantee to the 38% of the population who are under the age of 14?
One measure of a successful town is the number of tourists and travellers who make a detour because the town offers some or other attraction or facility that makes the detour worthwhile.
The other measure is the number of people from outside the town and region who choose to relocate to it for their retirement because it is an attractive place. Local pride is important but what others think of you is as important.
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Postscript: Driving east from Polokwane on Route 71 did impress (after one finally leaves the peri-urban sprawl of Polokwane). Mopane region does seem to do things differently: Haenertsburg must be Limpopo’s gem, but Tzaneen and Phalaborwa also impressed.