South African Business 2016 edition

OVERVIEW Regional

OVERVIEW Regional overview: Northern Cape Big sky country, the Northern Cape is the largest of South Africa’s provinces but has the smallest population, making it one of the more remote areas of South Africa. The province has many major attractions, including its vast, open spaces, unique vegetation – notably the beautiful spring flower spectacle that transforms a semi-desert landscape into one of striking colour and beauty – and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, which is famous for its lions. And, of course, the Northern Cape has diamonds. Who knows what sort of country South Africa would be today, were it not for the discovery of diamonds in the hot, dry flat interior of the country in the late 1800s? The small western portion of the Northern Cape Province bordering the Free State is now known as The Diamond Fields. Kimberley, which is also the Capital of the Northern Cape and the location of the Kimberly Big Hole, is at the heart of the province’s diamond fields. There are several diamond-mining and historical attractions in Kimberley itself, including the Big Hole and Kimberley Mine Museum. Agriculture With extensive stock and vegetable farming land, agriculture is central to the Northern Cape economy, but cutting-edge renewable-energy projects are revitalising this arid land. Major exports include fruit, especially table grapes and meat from the widespread sheep and goat farming in the province. Agriculture contributes more than its fair share to the economy, especially in terms of employment creation. For this reason, the revitalisation of the agriculture and agri-processing value chain is critically important. Initiatives like the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme will be prioritised to meet the needs of irrigation across a large swatch of the province. Northern Province is also the lead province in South Africa when it comes to solar renewable energy initiatives and in terms of its Renewable Energy Strategy. It plans to be an exporter of renewable energy to the rest of South Africa by 2020. Renewable energy For its part, Eskom has connected 950 Megawatts (Mw) of renewable energy from Independent Power Producers (IPP) to the grid, ahead of deadline. Eskom has also recently spent over R300-million on capital improvements in the Northern Cape, including the new Schmidsdrift Substation and the Canal Substation near Van der Kloof. These projects provide significant added ca- SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2016 184

OVERVIEW Northern Cape sector contribution. SOURCE: NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCIAL SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK. pacity for farming in the area. According to Mining Weekly, companies like Kumba and Assmang believe that when rail and port capacity is sufficient in South Africa, and enough water and energy is available, iron ore is expected to reach a combined total output of 100-million tons per annum in the upcoming years. Sol Plaatjie The province’s first university, Sol Plaatje, opened its doors in 2014 and is located close to Kimberley. The university is merging technikon courses with traditional university degrees in one department. It will add value to the Northern Cape economy and make a considerable contribution to the governmentservices sector. PERSONAL & GENERAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES 23% FINANCE, REAL ESTATE & BUSINESS SERVICES 14% TRANSPORT, STORAGE & COMMUNICATION 8% WHOLESALE, RETAIL, MOTOR TRADE, CATERING & ACCOMMODATION 12% CONSTRUCTION 3% ELECTRICITY, GAS & WATER 4% MANUFACTURING 3% MINING & QUARRYING 27% AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY & FISHING 7% Emerging farmers The government’s Orange River Emerging Farmer Settlement and Development Programme has to date seen the allocation of 2 800 hectares of water rights to communities and groups of Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDIs). This programme aims to assist beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme with infrastructural and project co-ordination along the Orange River. The remaining water rights will be allocated throughout the period 2015 to 2019. Education and health At least 65% of the Northern Cape’s budget is spent on education and health. A major effort is being undertaken to eradicate the backlog of water to schools, as well as to replace those schools constructed from inferior material. Plans are afoot to improve the province’s capacity for the training of nurses. It is also intended to fully capacitate the EMS College and disaster training initiatives, as announced by President Jacob Zuma during the opening of Harry Surtie Hospital in Upington. This state of the art hospital will soon be followed by a new hospital in De Aar, and these two projects highlight the route the province has travelled in accelerating the delivery of mega projects in line with its overall service delivery strategy. NORTHERN CAPE www.northern-cape.gov.za Capital Population Area Premier Kimberley 1 185 600 (2015) 372 889 km 2 Sylvia Lucas (ANC) Languages Afrikaans, isiXhosa, Setswana 185 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2016