Urban agriculture in South Africa: Scope,issues and potential

This paper examines the present state of urban agriculture in South Africa and analyses its potential for poverty alleviation. Currently, the scale of cultivation taking place in South Africa is relatively small as compared to other developing countries. The key explanation for the undeveloped urban agricultural sector is the greater returns to land and labour which may be earned from backyard shacks and alternative informal income opportunities in the city. Informal cultivation is primarily a survival niche of the most marginalized and most vulnerable groups in urban areas, in particular for elderly women. Policy issues are raised concerning urban agriculture in post apartheid urban reconstruction.     

Bridging “expert” and “local” knowledge for counter-disaster planning in urban South Africa

Rapid and spatially concentrated urbanization in South Africa has brought with it significant health and safety hazards. Political democracy and the dismantling of apartheid open the possibility of vigorous community participation in the identification and mitigation of such hazards. However there are severe obstacles to combining the expert knowledge of outside scientists with local knowledge of residents of the townships and squatter camps. This papers describes the common genesis of urban environmental hazards and the split between expert and local knowledge. They arise as twin products of the apartheid system that destroyed rural livelihoods, forcing Africans into over-crowded urban enclaves, denied them most educational opportunities and skilled employment, and denigrated local knowledge and self-help initiatives. This legacy must be overcome in the interest of hazard reduction in the New South Africa.     

Interrogating the post-apartheid socio-economic transformation in Mdantsane,Buffalo City

While scholarly concentration has been given to the challenges and opportunities for urban transformation in democratic South Africa, there are still pockets of areas which fall short of intensive examination, particularly in the topic of transforming hidden urban communities. In order to interrogate the socio-economic transformation of the hidden urbanites in a post-apartheid policy regime, this paper draws heavily from empirical evidence of Mdantsane, the second largest township in South Africa. It triangulates data obtained through unstructured in-depth interviews with that gathered from census surveys and other government reports. The study indicates that despite notable policy strides to facilitate the much sought after transformation, Mdantsane’s urban landscape still suffers from development gaps that are largely reflected in socio-economic spatial inequalities. Although these findings generally resonate with scholarly evidence established in other urban areas in South Africa, we argue about the peculiarity of Mdantsane’s case, which is chiefly associated with a complex matrix of policy events and physiographic constraints that would need a revisit if the envisaged development plans are to become a reality.     

Tertiary education requirements in the geosciences for the minerals industry and in the environmental field to meet the demands of the 21st century in South Africa

South and southern Africa are currently facing a major skills shortage in the applied earth sciences, particularly in the minerals industry and in the environmental field. This paper offers outlines of course curricula, developed in South Africa, which are designed to meet these needs.It is argued that insufficient time is devoted to applied geology in degree courses in South Africa and that appropriate specialisations should be introduced into the third and fourth years of Earth Science degrees. More detailed specialisation should be offered at master's level. Examples of such courses currently run in South Africa are cited.The important contribution of the earth sciences to contemporary environmental issues is stressed and the need for environmental geologists emphasised. It is argued that the huge amount of information essential to environmental geology requires postgraduate level teaching of this subject. An example of such a master's level course is taken from a course planned at the University of the Witwatersrand.Courses similar to those being developed in southern Africa need to be developed in other African regions.     

Environmental preferences for recreation within deprived areas: the case of black townships in South Africa

The urban black townships in South Africa differ from other deprived areas largely as a result of the circumstances under which they came into existence. The environmental preferences for recreation in these areas, hitherto uncharted territory, form the nucleus of this contribution. Comprehensive research has revealed the residents' specific environmental preferences for recreation. The most important aspect is the significance of the home as the recreational environment. Furthermore, evidence of the extensive utilization of informal recreational areas provides a new dimension to the inadequacy of the provision of facilities. The CHAID computer program, applied to certain demographic variables, was used to gain new insight into the factors that determine environmental preferences for recreation in deprived areas. The most significant of these appears to be the level of education, which could mean that a general increase in the level of education could result in an increased demand for recreational facilities. This analysis has revealed a number of important guidelines for planning.     

纽蒙特矿业公司经营活动的特色

纽蒙特矿业公司是世界上人于南非的著名的黄金勘探。生产企业、集采、逸、冶、科、工、贸于一身,从该公司海外开拓、生产与勘探的关系,环境保护意识及勘探和科研费用投入４个方面介绍了其发展史及成功的基本要素。     

Intracontinental movements in Western Gondwanaland: a palaeomagnetic test

Early Cretaceous intracontinental movements within Africa and/or South America, to account for misfit problem in the pre-drift reconstruction of Western Gondwana, have been tested using palaeomagnetic poles from both continents. Each continent has been considered as comprising separate subplates according to the boundaries proposed by Pindell and Dewey (1982) and Curie (1983): i.e., northern Africa ( ), southern Africa ( ), northern South America (nsa) and southern South America ( ). Visual and statistical distribution of Late Permian to Jurassic poles from the African subplates indicate two distinct groups before rotating relative to , while after the rotation they become indistinguishable. The distribution and sparsity of data from South America limit the study in this continent as the data are statistically indistinguishable before and after rotation of with respect to . When the test is extended to the reconstruction of Western Gondwana, the tightest grouping of the poles occurs when an intracontinental movement is assumed within Africa. This suggests that the misfit between the two continents is probably due to intracontinental deformation within Africa and not in South America. If confirmed, this may have profound implications in the kinematics of the processes related to the opening of the South and Central Atlantic Oceans and also the origin of the West African Rift System.     

Legal aspects of development on dolomite land in South Africa

 Dolomite rock formations underlie large areas of the Gauteng, North, North-West and Mpumalanga Provinces in South Africa. Sinkholes, subsidences and dolines that may form at any place and at any time on these formations pose a threat to the properties and lives of thousands of people who live and work there. Since much urban, industrial and mining development has taken place in these areas, and the demand for housing development is on the increase, the risk of surface damage must be minimized by means of proper site investigations, hazard and risk evaluation and selection of appropriate development. The legal aspects pertaining to development on dolomite land in South Africa and the requirements for geotechnical investigations as outlined in the various ordinances and acts are reviewed here. Received: 15 September 1996 · Accepted: 12 May 1998     

Forestry as a streamflow reduction activity in South Africa: Discussion and evaluation of the proposed procedure for the assessment of afforestation permit applications in terms of water sustainability

Commercial afforestation in South Africa dates back to the 1870s and started as an alternative to the fast disappearing indigenous timber resource. It involves the planting of exotic timber species and has impacts on water resources, soil biodiversity, landscapes, etc. Commercial afforestation of land has been subjected to regulation through the Afforestation Permit System (APS) since 1972, primarily to protect the national water resource. Since the APS no longer adequately dealt with afforestation regulation, it was replaced in 1999 with a procedure that was supposed to integrate the requirements of relevant legislation and general environmental management principles. This paper is a theoretical review of the background and development of the new South African Streamflow Reduction Activities licensing procedure, as well as whether it complies with the requirements of an environmental management system such as ISO 14001. The main conclusion is that the new procedure, although an improvement on the previous procedure, still has shortcomings especially with regard to the operational and decommissioning phases of forestry in South Africa. It is recommended that these aspects be addressed in order to mitigate the impact of forestry on water sustainability in South Africa. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Lessons learnt in addressing environmental issues of new water resource projects – a case study in KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

Developing new water resource projects without taking cognisance of the environmental impacts, both biophysical and social, has received global condemnation for many years now and is largely becoming a practice of the past. However, it is the prominence, extent of issues addressed, timing and intensity of the investigations and the commitment to environmental protection and mitigation that has increased significantly over the past few years. Practices in South Africa are no exception to this. Environmental legislation in South Africa requires that an Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) approach be adopted when any new project is being considered. This IEM approach was recently put to the test in South Africa during the planning and implementation of an inter-basin transfer scheme in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. This paper will discuss the steps that were taken to address the environmental issues during a protracted planning phase, and what was accomplished. It will compare how these recommendations were taken forward into the construction phase and the operations phase, and the lessons learnt from the process. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Researching the South African tourism and development nexus

Under apartheid, tourism was essentially anti-developmental in focus and tourism research largely centred on the recreation of white South Africans. Since the 1994 democratic transition tourism has become recognised as an increasingly important sector for South Africa's economy and for achieving the government's goals for reconstruction and development. In this paper a review and critical analysis is presented of the changing directions and foci of tourism scholarship in South Africa. It is shown that South African scholars are beginning to respond to the challenges posed by tourism as a developmental focus. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Re-balancing racial economic power in South Africa: The development of black small-scale enterprise

This paper examines the problems and prospects of developing black small-scale enterprise as part of the challenge to re-balance racial economic power in South Africa. The findings are presented of several studies identifying major blockages to black small business development. Policy issues of concern include finance, training and urban planning. Considerable importance is attached to the potential for expanding subcontracting linkages between large and small production enterprises.     

Spatial transformations in a “loosening state”: South Africa in a comparative perspective

This study explores the spatial transformation of urban South Africa since the ending of Apartheid rule two decades ago. It places this experience within the context of countries which have also gone through a “loosening” of political control and of related controls over spatial arrangements. The paper provides a discussion of South Africa’s spatial trends between 1996 and 2011, focusing on urbanisation; urban form; and socio-spatial segregation, and exploring the extent to which changes identified are shaped by the state, private sector investment, and the everyday actions of households and individuals. It shows that South Africa’s urban spatial transformation, post-Apartheid, is both idiosyncratic and comparable. The consequences of spatial controls, and of their loosening, have been diverse across countries, but also within countries. Loosening has led to differing relationships between state, citizenry and private enterprise, and to complex new crossing points between these groupings, affecting spatial change. In South Africa, significant trends have been: movement to the major cities where employment growth is stronger; levels of racial desegregation; and densification of parts of cities and towns, along with peripheral growth and employment decentralisation. Many of the changes however are differentiated across space and between settlements. While proactive state policies have had some impact (not necessarily in the direction of desired spatial transformation), and there are complex interrelationships, our empirical studies suggest that the major weight of evidence is towards the roles of private enterprise and people in shaping spatial change, enabled in part by forms of state loosening.     

Sediment yield in South Africa — A preliminary geographical analysis

The study examines the spatial relationships between sediment yield and 15 independent environmental variables in 54 catchments in South Africa. Rooseboom's (1978) data on the sediment yield from the catchments were standardized for a single time period. Bivariate regression analyses reveal no simple relationships. Multivariate regression analyses conducted for the whole and various sub-areas of South Africa indicate that latitude and longitude are the primary variables affecting spatial variations in sediment yield. This may be as a result of latitude and longitude being surrogate variables reflecting variation in other environmental variables (e. g. geology, vegetation). Within the sub-areas, 43.4% to 97.8% of the variation in sediment yield is explained by the combined variation in a number of different environmental variables. This study highlights a need for the collection and analysis of more sediment yield data, which would allow the analyses to be refined, to predict sediment yields from ungauged catchments in South Africa.     

Policy responses to informality in urban Africa: the example of Maputo,Mozambique

In the global South informality constitutes one of the leading issues for urban policy makers. The planning challenges around informality are particularly relevant in urban Africa as most Africans make their livelihoods in the informal economy. This paper examines issues of state policy responses to informality through the lens of street traders. Under scrutiny are policy responses towards street trading in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, a city that has experienced the advance of informalization. It is argued that the dominant approach towards informal trading across urban Africa is of a ‘sanitising’ policy response by the local state which is rooted upon traditions of modernist urban planning in search of ‘ordered development’. The research discloses that in Maputo national and municipal authorities have adopted a more tolerant approach to the informal economy, mainly because it provides a livelihood to so many of the city’s poor and because of potential social unrest likely to be triggered by a repressive approach. In Maputo the core narrative is of an urban informal economy viewed by officials as an important livelihood for the city’s poor, albeit one which is subject both to periodic harassment and encouragement to ‘formalize’. The analysis represents a contribution to the expanding corpus of writings on Africa’s informalising cities and specifically concerning policy responses towards street trading.     

Urban tourism and small tourism enterprise development in Johannesburg: The case of township tourism

Urban tourism is a focus of vibrant research in developed countries. In this paper the focus is upon an element of urban tourism in a developing world city, viz., Johannesburg. Specific attention centers on an analysis of the role of small enterprise development in urban tourism. The major issues surrounding the development of small tourism businesses in two of Johannesburg's former black townships, namely Soweto and Alexandra, which are emerging as centers for so-termed ‘township tourism’ in South Africa, are investigated. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Power and the hierarchy of knowledge: A review of a decade of the World Bank’s relationship with South Africa

This article presents a case study of the World Bank’s relationship with South Africa to argue that the Bank uses its knowledge brokering role as a device to facilitate the development of a lending relationship with countries that may initially be reluctant to enter into this kind of engagement. This article reviews the World Bank’s 10-year effort to develop a lending relationship with South Africa. The Bank inserted itself into the country in the early 1990s at the outset of its democratic transformation. Throughout the decade, South Africa acceded to the Bank’s policy interventions through technical assistance rather than through a concerted lending programme. In doing so, South Africa internalized the Bank’s market-driven political economy framework underlying its technical assistance programme. The country’s application of the Bank’s knowledge has had questionable outcomes for its development agenda. While the Bank’s ‘expert’ interventions may have offered valuable technical insights, it neglected the politics of distribution that are embedded in a more localized knowledge formation process. The result has led to the instrumentalization of local governance and undermined the engagement of civil society actors in the construction of a democratic state at the local level.     

From community planning to partnership planning. Urban regeneration and shifting power geometries on the South Bank, London

This paper seeks to explain the persistence of inner-city deprivation in spite of sustained regeneration efforts, through demonstrating how urban regeneration policies are embedded in peculiar political-institutional power dynamics that actually contribute to the further disempowerment of the already disempowered groups in inner cities. The reconstruction of the post-war planning history of one specific urban neighbourhood, the South Bank in central London, will allow to demonstrate how the constantly reworked urban regeneration models comprise specific power relations that have important repercussions for the success and failure of regeneration programmes. The focus here will particularly be on how the fall of the South Bank's prominent era of community-based development in the 1970s is firmly embedded in changing political-institutional frameworks that, after a spell of `community power', were soon to restore the power of the local cultural, political and business elites over the local regeneration agenda.     

Defending apartheid: Armscor and the geography of military production in South Africa

Militarisation in South Africa is examined through a study of the development, organization and geography of military production. The rise of Armscor as a significant military-industrial enterprise is disclosed at the heart of the post-1960 growth of armaments production in South Africa. Despite intensifying arms embargoes, military industrialization in South Africa has attained a degree of self-sufficiency. Military production is analysed as a powerful implicit spatial policy shaping the South African space economy favouring in particular the development of the core metropolitan areas, most importantly the Johannesburg-Pretoria axis.