Volume II - The Northern Cape Provincial Spatial Development ...

generating jobs and income such as agriculture, fishing, mining and financial services. It also
considers the diversity of the local economy and it is postulated that greater diversity is
beneficial to shield against economic fluctuations so detrimental to undiversified mono-
focussed economies, for example mining towns. The size of the regions economy is measured
by the Gross Value Added Product of the local municipality in which the town is located.
Commercial Services index: This index is devised to express the size of private commercial,
financial and professional service functions offered by the towns in the study (Table 3.4). In
the absence of data on the number and types of commercial activities the Urban Functional
Index of towns in South Africa was used as a proxy. Size is measured by the total annual
value of retail sales.
Market and Accessibility index: The strength and size of a town’s market potential was
measured by four variables (Table 3.4). The index combines measures of population size in
towns with the total gross personal income of their inhabitants and the total household
potential income. Accessibility to the markets is calculated as the sum of the weighted
distance to the five major metropolitan centres in South Africa.
Property Market index: The vitality of the property market in the respective towns and
municipalities is measured by the annual number of property transactions as well as their
average value (Table 3.4). It is assumed that a lively property market with high average values
is indicative of thriving towns.
Human Development Needs index: All the variables (nineteen) included in this index measure
some aspect of vulnerability or development need (Table 3.4). Consequently, the size of
those groups in society more often in need of some form of assistance is used to profile the
towns. The proportion black and coloured population groups (generally considered apartheid
victims), children and aged, female household heads, educationally deprived, lower income
groups, the unemployed, unskilled, and recent in-migrants are typical indicators. Places with
low Matriculation pass rates, high proportions under the mean level of living index, high rates
of HIV/AIDS and high percentages receiving social grants are indications of high need. Other
measures relate to housing conditions and access to domestic services such as water,
sanitation and electricity.
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