|
|
||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
North West, also known as the "Platinum Province", is centrally located on the subcontinent with direct road and rail links to all southern African countries, and with its own airport near the capital city, Mafikeng. The province borders Botswana and is fringed by the Kalahari desert in the west and the Witwatersrand area in the east. North West is divided into the Central, Bophirima (towards the west), Southern, Rustenburg and Eastern regions. Most economic activity is concentrated in the Southern Region (between Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp), Rustenburg, and the Eastern Region, where more than 83.3% of GDPR of the province is produced.
The province offers several tourist attractions, including the internationally renowned Sun City, the popular Pilanesberg National Park, the Madikwe Game Reserve and the Rustenburg Nature Reserve. The province recorded an economic growth rate of 4.9% in 2004/05 compared with 4.5% in 2003/04. The largest contributors to the GDP of the province in 2004 were the mining and quarrying industries (24.9%), finance, real estate and business services (13.6%) and the general government services sector (12.1%). The lowest contribution to GDP was by the electricity, gas and water industries. The People
Of the 3,374,200 people living in the North West, 65% live in the rural areas (Mid-Year Population Estimates, 2006). The official unemployment rate is 31.8% (Labor Force Survey, March 2006). The province has the lowest number of people aged 20 years and older (5.9%) who have received HE. The literacy rate is in the region of 57%.
Mining
One of the programs of the Mafikeng Industrial Development Initiative is the establishment of the Mining Supply and Industrial Park that will result in the creation of a mining goods-and-service warehouse and delivery park for the convenience and benefit of most mining companies around Rustenburg. This multi-year project envisages benefits being gained from local and Black Economic Empowerment preferential procurement opportunities offered by the Mining Charter. Diamonds are mined at Lichtenburg, Koster, Christiana and Bloemhof, while Orkney and Klerksdorp have gold mines. The area surrounding Rustenburg and Brits boasts the largest single platinum-production area in the world. Marble is also mined here. Fluorspar is exploited at Zeerust. Manufacturing
Manufacturing contributes 7% of the province’s GDP and 9% of its employment opportunities. It provides 2,6% of the South African manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP. Manufacturing is almost exclusively dependent on the performance of a few sectors in which the province enjoys a competitive advantage. These are fabricated metals (51%), the food sector (18%) and non-metallic metals (21%) (Provincial Economies, 2003). Industrial activity is centered in the towns of Brits, Klerksdorp, Vryburg and Rustenburg. The Brits industries concentrate mostly on manufacturing and construction, while those at Klerksdorp are geared towards the mining industry, and those at Vryburg and Rustenburg towards agriculture. The Platinum SDI, situated on the Coast-to-Coast highway that links the port of Maputo in Mozambique to Walvis Bay in Namibia, is expected to unlock further development. About 200 potential project opportunities in tourism, manufacturing, agriculture and mining have been identified. Five anchor projects within the Platinum SDI have also been identified with an estimated R4.3-billion capital investment component, around which there are dozens of other development and investment opportunities. Employment along the Platinum Corridor, from Pretoria to eastern Botswana, accounts for over a third of total employment in North West. The aim of the Mafikeng IDZ is to create jobs and to enhance the economic potential of the Central Region, the entire North West and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Agriculture
Agriculture is of extreme importance to the North West. It contributes about 2.6% of the total GDPR and 19% of formal employment. Some 5.9% of the South African GDP in agriculture and 16.96% of total labor in agriculture are based in the North West (Provincial Economies, 2004). The province is an important food basket in South Africa. Maize and sunflowers are the most important crops, and the North West is the major producer of white maize in the country.
Some of the largest cattle herds in the world are found at Stellaland near Vryburg, which explains why this area is often referred to as the "Texas of South Africa". Marico is also cattle-country. The areas around Rustenburg and Brits are fertile, mixed-crop farming land.
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
