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

Northern Cape PSDF
Volume 2
December 2011
coastal resources can therefore not be utilised to their maximum sustainable capacity for the
socio‐economic benefit of the people of the Northern Cape.
There are a number of indirect impacts resulting from the lack of public coastal property
through the monopolisation of coastal land by mining activities. The most obvious and
concerning impact is that restricted access limits people’s use of marine and coastal
resources. This restriction of access does not occur to such an extent in the other coastal
Provinces of South Africa. Due to the limited use of coastal areas, the physical infrastructure
of the area is also poorly developed (Tapscott, 1999) and those that do exist are mostly
related to mining use (Spatial Development Initiatives, 2003).
From an economic perspective, lack of access to marine and coastal resources has limited
the development of other economic activities such as fishing, mariculture and tourism along
the coast (Enviro‐Fish Africa, 2003a). This has implications for community development
projects and the long term sustainability of the economy of the area. The activity of mining
has a limited life‐span in any area as it is based on the extraction of a non‐renewable
resource (Hounsome and Ashton, 2001). The long‐term mining concessions have an impact
on the growth of alternative economic activities in the area (Enviro‐Fish Africa, 2003a) and it
is important to consider viable alternative economic opportunities for the long term
(FAMDA, 2003).
Recognising these impacts, mining companies together with local municipalities have
initiated projects to create local economic development at the small and medium scale (Eco‐
Africa, 2002; Spatial Development Initiatives, 2003). However there still exists a significant
obstacle to public access to marine and coastal resources which is contradictory to the spirit
of the White Paper on Sustainable Coastal Development (Republic of South Africa, 1999).
C.5 HERITAGE RESOURCES
C.5.1 PREHISTORIC HISTORY
The Northern Cape has a particularly rich history dating back millions of years. Early hominid
remains occur, in particular, along the Ghaap escarpment in the vicinity of Kuruman and
along the coastline. Based upon the discovery of the Taung skull approximately 100 km north
of Kimberley, it is estimated that Australopithecus were the first hominid to roam the area.
These hominids evolved in eastern Africa around 4 million years ago before spreading
throughout the continent and eventually becoming extinct 2 million years ago.
Remains of the Stone Age have been discovered on several locations primarily along rivers or
around pans. Stone tools found at the bottom level of Wonderwerk Cave 43 km south of
Kuruman show that human ancestors resided in the cave two million years ago. The
Wonderwerk Cave is 139 m deep and archaeologically of considerable importance.
Archaeological research in the cave has revealed an immensely long record of human and
environmental history spanning hundreds of thousands of years. The cave, which is a
national heritage site, has a geological context of stratified dolomitic limestone of the 2.3
billion‐year old Ghaap Paltaeu Dolomite Formation. It is believed that the stone tools found
Office of the Premier &
Department of Rural Development & Land Reform
39
Dennis Moss Partnership