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

Northern Cape PSDF
Volume 2
December 2011
very basic level of infrastructural services (or mobile services) should be provided and that
an additional social investment goes into skills development, labour‐market information
and other resources that will enable those living in these areas to become more mobile
(NSDP, 2006).
Given the national government’s objectives of growing the economy, creating jobs, addressing
poverty and promoting social cohesion, the NSDP (2006) assists local and provincial governments
in confronting the following fundamental planning questions:
• Where should government direct its investment and development initiatives to ensure
sustainable and maximum impact?
• What kinds of spatial forms and arrangements are most conducive to the achievement of
the objectives of democratic nation‐building, as well as social and economic inclusion?
• How can government capitalise on complementarities and facilitate consistent decision
making?
In order to contribute to the broader growth and development policy objectives of government,
the NSDP puts forward a set of five normative principles 15 which have been adopted by the PSDF
for the Northern Cape:
(i) Rapid economic growth that is sustained and inclusive is a pre‐requisite for the
achievement of other policy objectives, among which poverty alleviation is a key facet.
(ii) Government has a constitutional obligation to provide basic services (social capital) to all
citizens (e.g. water, energy, health and educational opportunities) wherever they reside.
(iii) Beyond this constitutional obligation, government spending on fixed investment
(infrastructural capital) should be focused on localities of proven economic growth and
development potential in order to gear up private‐sector investment, to stimulate
sustainable economic activities and to create long‐term employment opportunities.
(iv) Efforts to address past and current social inequalities should focus on people, not on
places. In localities with high levels of need and low demonstrated economic potential,
government should, beyond the provision of basic services, concentrate primarily on
social/human investment by providing education, training, and social transfers. It should
also reduce migration costs by providing better information regarding opportunities and
capabilities. This could enable people to gravitate ‐ if they choose so ‐ to localities that are
more likely to provide sustainable employment and economic opportunities.
(v) In localities where there are high levels of need (poverty) and demonstrated high economic
potential, this could be an indication for fixed and social investment to exploit the potential
of those localities.
(vi) In order to overcome the spatial distortions of apartheid, future settlement and economic
development opportunities should be channelled into activity corridors and nodes that are
adjacent to or link with national growth centres. Infrastructure investment should further
support localities that may become major growth nodes in South Africa and the SADC
region to create regional gateways to the global economy (Namibia and Botswana is quite
relevant for the Northern Cape in this regard).
The NSDP is supported by the concept draft of the National Urban Development Framework
(Department of Co‐operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, in conjunction with the
Presidency and SA Cities Network, 2009.) The purpose of a national urban development
framework is to provide a common view on how to strengthen the capacity of South Africa’s
15
The Northern Cape PGDS is perfectly in line with these NSDP principles (NC PGDS, Draft 3, 2010).
Office of the Premier &
Department of Rural Development & Land Reform
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Dennis Moss Partnership