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

Northern Cape PSDF
Volume 2
Office of the Premier &
Department of Rural Development & Land Reform
December 2011
domain improves rural productivity and better access to markets, jobs and public services
(Weliwita & Okpala, 2004).
According to Tacoli (2004), the spatial aims of regional planning policies assume that small and
intermediate urban centres contribute to regional and rural development in four main ways,
namely by being centres:
• of demand and markets for rural agricultural produce and products;
• in which rural non‐farm activities and employment can grow and consolidate;
• where goods and services to surrounding rural areas are produced and distributed;
• that attract rural migrants from the surrounding rural areas in order to decrease the labour
pressure on larger urban centres.
The recent move to a global economy has been painful for many settlements because of the loss
of manufacturing jobs, the vulnerability of export agriculture, and the increased competition in the
energy and mining sectors. Larger commercial settlements seem to have a built‐in growth
dynamic, based on a sufficient level of diversification. Nel (2005) identifies several noticeable
changes taking place in small settlements:
• The collapse of many once‐prosperous mining settlements and the demise of railway
settlements.
• The decline in agricultural output in many areas or the shift to new rural activities such as
game farming, which have significantly reduced reliance on local small centres as points of
sale and service supply.
• Advances in transport technology and changes in retail patterns, which have facilitated
access to the more distant regional centres and displaced the role of the small agricultural
service centres.
• A positive trend is the growth of tourist settlements and settlements in areas of natural
beauty.
• Growth of the larger centres has extended service fields and a diversified economy and has
often displaced and absorbed the functions of smaller settlements in their area.
• In many of the smaller centres, there is an artificial economic dependence on state welfare
on the part of the town’s people, the loss of many formal sector job opportunities,
continuing poverty and the out‐migration of the skilled.
• As result of the amalgamation of smaller centres under a single authority, the loss of local
government status has weakened many settlements.
Atkinson (2008) stresses the following arguments in aid of struggling settlements:
a) There is a need for productive government spending in small and medium‐sized
settlements. The future of small and medium‐sized settlements should be understood in
relation to the spatial strategies of national and provincial governments (i.e. NSDP and
PGDS). It will be argued that these settlements require some level of productive
government spending – i.e. expenditure which will raise local production and multipliers.
b) To stimulate local economies and to bring additional private sector capital into small and
medium‐sized settlements, the comparative advantages of such settlements need to be
analysed. Much more effort needs to be done to investigate and promote the real
economic drivers of a town and its hinterland.
c) To understand the comparative advantage of these settlements, there is no ‘one‐size‐fits‐
all’ solution to small and medium‐sized settlements. This means that every town should be
understood in its regional context.
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Dennis Moss Partnership