Current Edition >> Archive Section >> Special Features >> 19 June 2007
Outcome and way forward - “Building partnerships towards a responsive regional economy”
With a view to coordinate, plan and drive economic growth and development in the Fezile Dabi District of the Free State, a summit of key stakeholders was held on 22 and 23 March 2007 at Lechwe Lodge, Kroonstad. Hosted by the Fezile Dabi District Municipality (FDDM), the overriding aim of the summit was to strategise economic development on the way forward for the district in order to optimise service delivery and maximise economic growth and development.
The summit followed an earlier pre-summit held on 9 March 2007 at Sasolburg and at which the scene was set for a constructive and productive meeting at the actual growth and development summit held two weeks later. At this pre-summit valuable inputs where made by inter alia Dr. Ivor Zwane of Sasol Infrachem, mr. Wim Boshoff of Flavius Mareka FET College and others.
It needs to be mentioned that the pre-summit was preceded by a process whereby the local municipalities in the district, viz. Moqhaka, Ngwathe, Metsimaholo and Mafube, held own summits and workshops to pursue their search for key economic drivers, to devise their development strategies, to establish LED priorities and to do SWOT analyses.
It was against this background that the Fezile Dabi Growth and Development Summit was held on 22 and 23 March 2007, presenting a draft profile of the district. This in turn culminated in the inputs made and outcome arrived at as summarized in this special feature.
Inputs at the Summit
The following is a brief overview of some of the inputs made at the Development Summit of 22 and 23 March 2007:
The Acting Executive Mayor of FDDM, Cllr. Donald Colbert: He outlined some of the challenges faced by the district as follows:
• Inviting investors to municipalities;
• Not having credible development plans;
• Spatial development planning;
• The correct people to drive local economic development.
• He also added that government alone cannot deal with the challenges, municipalities needed to work together and assist each other in order to overcome these challenges and meet the overall objectives.
The Municipal Manager of FDDM, Mr. Stephen Molala: He detailed prevailing issues in the district a follows:
• To achieve the government vision of 2014 by halving poverty and unemployment and reaching an economic growth rate of 6%. Growth and development strategies must be aligned to this vision;
• Build partnerships with labour movements, church organizations, etc. that will assemble a responsive economy, share ideas and grow together;
• Address concerns relating to education, infant mortality and the impact of the external environment on municipalities;
• Address the challenges relating to investing in the district, job creation, local action and economic development, advancing equity, developing skills and creating economic opportunities;
• Identify projects and programs that will address these challenges and meet the objectives of the district (local action);
• Building credible (realistic and reliable) Integrated Development Plans;
• Teamwork is key. Contributing new ideas, sharing experiences, communicating and working together as one unit will contribute to growth. Working in silos must come to an end;
• Develop a framework for monitoring and evaluating progress. Check that strategies are implemented and are effective, review strategies and update them accordingly; analyze the impact of strategies on communities.
• For example, if the vision is to half poverty and unemployment, a program that will execute this task should be implemented. Further, it must be monitored to see if the desired outcome has been achieved, i.e. improving social welfare;
• How can we contribute towards attaining the targeted growth rate of 6%? Direct interventions: provision of basic services particularly infrastructure, water, sanitation, electricity.
Mr. Ike Morabe from the Premier's Office: He reviewed the revised Free State Growth and Development Strategy as finalised early this year, emphasizing in particular the place and role of the Fezile Dabi district.
Mr. Lerata Mokotedi, Lesedi Consultants: He mentioned the main sectoral drivers of the Fezile Dabi district as Manufacturing, Agriculture, Mining, Transport and Tourism, with the sectors to nurse Transport and Construction. He also presented census data relating to the demographic trends of the Free State province.
Mr. Ngesi, board member of the Free State Development Corporation (FDC): He presented statistics and said that contribution to GDP should not intimidate other municipalities, but should rather encourage all to work together and assist each other. He also asked: “Is money or management of money a problem? This must be distinguished.” Ngesi also spelt out opportunities facing Fezile Dabi as well as the Free State, such as the province being situated at the centre of the country and how can this advantage be exploited; agro-processing; leather production; bio-fuel development; chemical down-streaming; and tourism – is a strategy in place? He stressed the importance of SMME development and the FDC's task in this, while he also dwelt on the subject of empowerment and how it can be effectivel achieved.
Mr. Claude Lambshead of the Dept. of Local Government and Housing: He presented a framework for LED, outlined challenges facing FDDM and made the point that LED requires astute political leadership.
Ms. Phomolo Mokuele, CEO of the Free State Tourism Authority: She detailed an integrated tourism development and marketing strategy currently being implemented for the Free State, explaining also how Fezile Dabi district fits into the picture and how the district itself should rise to meet specific requirements.
Mr. Phukuntsi, Chief Director from the Free State Provincial Treasury: He was the keynote speaker at the gala dinner and alluded to operational activities within the terms of reference of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). He used the example of drawing monies from unrelated accounts for payments - a clear sign of lack of financial discipline. He also strongly advised on the importance of the much needed alignment between the budget and the strategy itself after a thorough needs analysis. His presentation added to the urgent need for financial skills also in Fezile Dabi district.
Other speakers making presentations included Mr. Nkhangwe Ramashia from the Dept. of Trade & Industry (DTI), Mr. Tshepo Monaledi of De Beers Mining and Mr. Nkabinde from the (BCDC).
Economic profile of Fezile Dabi
The Fezile Dabi District is an important agricultural production area, particularly for maize.
The Vaal Dam is the main source of water for Gauteng and offers a wide variety of sports and leisure facilities.
The district has other attractions such as the Vredefort Dome, which is the third largest meteorite site in the world (200 km in diameter), and various San paintings.
The most important towns are Sasolburg and Kroonstad. Sasolburg has significant strategic importance for South Africa, as it is the location of large chemical and synthetic fuel plants (i.e. the Sasol plant). Kroonstad is an important agricultural and administrative centre in the district.
Fezile Dabi has 17% of the Free State population, but contributes 32.2% of the GDP in the Free State. The two districts whose proportionate contribution to the Free State economy is higher than their share of the Free State population, are Motheo and Fezile Dabi.
A key aspect of the Free State economy is the dominance of the petrochemical industry in Sasolburg in respect of manufacturing in the Free State (see Metsimaholo IDP). This industry is closely related to the Sasol factories. Today, 20% of the employment in manufacturing is located in Sasolburg. A the same time, the Fezile Dabi district contributes more than 70% of the economic value of manufacturing in the Free State (see Fezile Dabi IDP).
Considering the relative economic contribution of each district's economy as measured in GVA, it is quite clear that Motheo and Fezile Dabi are the districts contributing the most to the Free State Economy. In terms of GDP, Motheo and Fezile Dabi have jointly contributed almost two-thirds (64.7%) of the province's economy.
Fezile Dabi has performed exceptionally well in that it almost doubled its economic contribution (31.8%) compared with its population share (16.3%).
The top five specific localities (magisterial districts) contributing most to the economy of the Free State during 2004 were Bloemfontein (R17.7 billion), Sasolburg (R15.2 billion), Welkom (R6.5 billion), Kroonstad (2.3 billion) and Bethlehem (R2.2 billion)
In terms of NSDP it is clear that, from a district economical perspective, the focus regarding potential for growth should be on Fezile Dabi and Motheo as key districts to propel the Free State economy in the next 10 years. Fezile Dabi has almost tripled its economic contribution to the economy of the Province relative to the other sectors, while Motheo has maintained an increase in GVA rate of just more than 7%.
Report back by Commissions of Summit
The following Commissions of the Summit reported back to the plenary meeting as indicated:
Commission on Agriculture and Mining: Under the chairpersonship of Ms. Mmabatho Nkwe, the report-back touched on key aspects such as migration of experienced farm workers to urban areas, invisible mining beneficiation schemes, land and funding for emerging farmers, skills transfer from white farmers to emerging farmers, support from mining companies for beneficiation schemes in the district, more focus on the agro-processing industry, etc.
Commission on Construction and Manufacturing: Under the chairpersonship of Ms. Queen Nyezi, a number of concerns were raised, inter alia:
Preferential procurement system still favours established big contractors (80 points on price alone disadvantages emerging contractors);
FDDM must encourage the local municipalities to put into place incentive structure in order to stimulate investment opportunities within the district e.g. tax holidays, selling land cheaper for development, etc.;
By-laws and regulations that are rigid and restrictive need to be identified and reviewed;
Websites to be put in place as required by the law for access to information;
Fronting needs to be investigated and uprooted as a matter of urgency;
Tender documents need to be reviewed, they are not user friendly;
FDDM must facilitate the creation of a one-stop infrastructure for all SMMEs support institutions (seda, FDC, DBSA, etc. );
Municipalities must do planning and implementation determination before budget allocation;
Create a database of unemployed youth and graduates in local municipalities.
Commission on Tourism: Under the chairpersonship of Ms. Marita Blom, a tourism profile for the Fezile Dabi district was presented, pointing out inter alia:
It is not an end destination area, it is a stop over or weekend area;
It has easy access to Gauteng because of its proximity;
It is a water related recreational area;
It has rural areas and open skies.
A review was also presented on the tourism sector as a job-creator and developer, on the challenges faced in the sector, on investment opportunities and on the skills situation.
Commission in SMME development: Under the chairpersonship of Mr. Simon Mofokeng, SMME development was defined as follows: It is the development of those entrepreneurs that are in the informal sector as well as those that are in the formal sector but have an annual turnover of less than R14 million.
Furthermore a review was presented of constraints being experienced by SMME's, as well as of issues such as the problem of influx where SMME’s saturate one market - lack of diversity in terms of services rendered; Municipalities should play a match-making role in advancing SMME’s; and lack of skills, information and funding.
The findings and recommendations of the Commissions were then discussed in plenary by the Summit and a number of resolutions adopted.
For full information on this, contact Ms. Queen Nyezi at FDDM on (016) 970 8600 or 082 414 5166 or email queenn@nfsdc.co.za.
Terms of reference of Steering Committee
The terms of reference of the Steering Committee have been captured in 20 detailed points, only some of which are highlighted herewith:
• To assist with ways and means of unlocking and accelerating the much needed economic growth in Fezile Dabi district.
• To identify existing skilled personnel, especially white farmers, for purposes of skills transfers.
• To identify potential investors
• To assist FDDM with implementation processes regarding economic strategies.
• Identify potential markets.
• Identify resources available.
• Identify international programs available and form partnerships.
• Develop SMME database, but it must be interpreted and reviewed periodically.
• Negotiate BEE deals.
• Tourism – tourism development – promoting cultural tourism in the FS – will package the historical sites – looking at the cultural tourism route in the FS and historical background.
• Mining companies such as De Beers, with their social responsibilities – social plan of the mining sector should be tabled here.
Way forward
Having presented the draft profile to the summit, having received all the inputs and having formed a steering committee, the way henceforward is for the latter to work out a final growth and development strategy for the Fezile Dabi district.
To this end, the synergy of all stakeholders is sincerely invited by contacting the steering committee.
Die droom van 'n Bloemfonteinse entrepreneur wat gematerialiseer en gegroei het tot 'n konstruksiemaatskappy wat talle groot bouprojekte gelyktydig regoor Suidelike Afrika doen - dit is die verhaal van Ruwacon.
Ruwacon is in 1999 deur Pieter Ruthven van Bloemfontein begin. Hy was voorheen die jongste streeksbestuurder wat Stocks & Stocks nog gehad het, maar het die droom gehad om sy eie konstruksiemaatskappy te begin.
Aanvanklik was Ruwacon 'n siviele konstruksiemaatskappy, maar later het dit ook uitgebrei om die bou en instandhouding van groot staatsgeboue in te sluit. Omsetgewys het die maatskappy gegroei tot tans meer as R350 miljoen per jaar.
In 2005 het die maatskappy wetlike SEB-status verkry toe 30% van die aandele deur Gavin Davids, 'n ervare bourekenaar, gekoop is.
Tans hanteer Ruwacon sowat 70 aktiewe kontrakte op meer as 100 terreine regoor Suid-Afrika – vanaf Robbeneiland in die suide tot Richardsbaai aan die ooskus en vanaf Alexanderbaai aan die weskus tot Komatipoort in Mpumalanga.
Ruwacon spesialiseer daarin om d.m.v. instandhoudingskontrakte veral staatsgeboue en –fasiliteite, soos tronke, hospitale, polisiekantore, landdroskantore, ens. op te gradeer en op te knap en dan vir 'n termyn van minstens drie jaar in stand te hou.
Ruwacon bou ook nuwe staatsgeboue, soos tans die Saldanha Polisiestasie in Saldanhabaai en die Bethlehem Maatskaplike Kantore te Bethlehem.
Voorts behartig Ruwacon tans die opgradering en opknapping van alle grensposte tussen Suid-Afrika en onderskeidelik Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana en Namibië.
Wat is die geheim van die sukses? “Genade”, sê Pieter Ruthven, “en 'n begeerte om skitterende bouprojekte op die tafel te plaas. Tesame daarmee het ek mense saam met my in die span gekry wat dieselfde begeerte deel en uiters bekwaam is. Met geesdrif pak ons uitdagende projekte aan en saam dryf ons dit tot sukses. Hierin is effektiewe kommunikasie van sleutelbelang.”
Ons innoveer nuwe idees en soek beter oplossings. Ons is bereid om te waag en die verantwoordelikheid te dra,” sê Pieter.
Langtermynstrategieë word geformuleer deur bestuurders wat al lank in die bedryf is. Die meeste van die Ruwacon-uitvoerende beamptes het deur die meule van die maatskappy gekom nadat hulle as projekingenieurs, kontrakbestuurders en terreinagente begin het. By Ruwacon word werknemers bevorder op grond van bewese vermoëns.
Naas sy mense, is die reputasie van Ruwacon die belangrikste bate van die maatskappy. 'n Reputasie van onkrenkbare integriteit word as ononderhandelbaar geag.
Nog 'n kernwaarde en deel van die Ruwacon-kultuur, is veiligheid op hul werksterreine. Aan die hand van gesonde konstruksiepraktyke is Ruwacon verbind tot die hoogste vlakke van veiligheidsprestasie. Vir elke terrein word 'n volledige veiligheidsplan uitgewerk en die implementering daarvan word deurlopend gemonitor en bestuur.
Dan natuurlik word die uitvoering van 'n projek op die gehaltepeil van uitnemendheid, op tyd en binne begroting as 'n voldonge feit beskou.
Die hoofkantoor van Ruwacon is gesetel te Bloemfontein, Mimosastraat 6, Ou Industriële Gebied, met verskeie streekskantore.
Die ses direkteure van die maatskappy is Pieter Ruthven (hoofuitvoerende direkteur), Gavin Davids (besturende direkteur), Rodger Mackey (finansiële direkteur), Hendrik Badenhorst (verantwoordelik vir die Vrystaat en Noord-Kaap), Kobus Prinsloo (verantwoordelik vir Wes- en Oos-Kaap) en Kobus Markram (verantwoordelik vir die noordelike deel van die land en KZN).
Omdat die kantoorgebou van Ruwacon in die Ou Industriële Gebied te klein geword het en omdat daar nie alternatiewe geskikte erwe beskikbaar is nie, het die maatskappy die bestaande gebou heeltemal afgebreek en 'n splinternuwe doelmatige een van 1 350 m² gebou. Dié dubbelverdieping met kelderparkering en –stoorruimte nader tans voltooiing en gebruikneming is binnekort. Intussen huur die maatskappy kantore in die Telkom-gebou by College Square.
Een van die opwindende prestige projekte waarmee Ruwacon tans besig is, is die restourasie van die tronk en toeristefasiliteite te Robbeneiland. Die kontrak beloop R24 miljoen en strek oor 18 maande. Werk aan hierdie verklaarde Wêrelderfenisterrein stel besonder hoë vereistes, ook wat die praktiese uitvoering betref, soos dat materiaal na Robbeneiland slegs twee keer per week per boot gebring kan word. Ruwacon het 40 werknemers op die projek, wat elke werksdag om 08:15 per geskeduleerde veerboot na die eiland geneem word en smiddae om 16:15 weer terug. Verder kan daar net gewerk word as die wind minder as 50 knope per uur waai, andersins is die see te onstuimig.
In terme van sosiale verantwoordelikheid is Ruwacon by verskeie skoolprojekte betrokke met instandhouding van geboue as hul bydrae tot die gemeenskap.
“Ek is met trots 'n Vrystater in murg en been en ploeg graag terug in die streek en gemeenskap waarbinne ons ons lewe maak”, sê Pieter.
It is generally accepted that “pest control” refers to the regulation or management of another species regarded as a pest, because it is believed to be detrimental to human health, the ecology or the economy. Chemical pest control dates back 4 500 years when the Sumerians used sulfur compounds as insecticides.
On their website, the SA Pest Control Association (SAPCA), states that a consumer faces two choices when confronted by pests: Firstly, do-it-yourself with pre-packed off-the-shelf pesticides from the local supermarket, or secondly, employ the services of a pest control company.
As for the latter option, it is recommended that one ensures that the company hired is duly experienced and qualified to handle the job at hand and to adhere to set guidelines and safety codes.
The SA Pest Control Association was established in 1964 to regulate the industry and to promote globally compatible professionalism.
For more information, visit www.sapca.org.za.
Three decades of specialist pest control
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Professionele hantering nodig
• Redaksie
Nie slegs om menslike veiligheids-oorwegings nie, maar deesdae ook al hoe meer om omgewingsredes, is dit nodig dat plaagbeheermaatreëls met deskundigheid en verkieslik met professionaliteit hanteer word.
Om 'n lang storie kort te maak, as dit by plaagbeheer (“pest control”) kom, is dit die beste om van 'n hanteerder gebruik te maak wat by die SA Raad vir Plaagbeheer (PCSIB) geregistreer is. Firmas wat plaagbeheer bedryf, moet lid wees van die SA Plaagbeheervereniging (SAPCA). Dit alles bring mee dat operateurs oor openbare aanspreeklikheid beskik, vir ongevalle asook vir BTW geregistreer is en waarborge moet kan lewer.
Elke gifstof bevat aanwysings wat aandui waarvoor dit gebruik kan word. Die voorgestelde sterkte word ook aangedui. 'n Gifsoort wat onder meer organofosfaat bevat, sal ook die goggas doodmaak. Dit moet egter in oop ruimtes aangewend word, aangesien die gasse nadelig vir die mens is. Plaagbeheerders moet die regte toerusting gebruik en die regte klere en maskers gebruik om op alle maniere voorsorg te tref dat hulle nie self later gesondheidsprobleme ontwikkel nie.Daarby moet gif in 'n spesifieke vertrek gestoor word. Die vloer moet effens skuins wees sodat, indien die gifstof uitloop, dit kan afloop na 'n sentrale deel sodat dit maklik skoongemaak kan word. Dit moet ook toegesluit gehou word weg vanaf ongemagtigde persone.
'n Belangrike riglyn by die keuse oor gifstowwe, is dat dit eerder piretroïde bevat as organofosfaat, wat baie meer risiko vir beide mens en natuur inhou.
Veral vir besighede, is dit by plaagbeheer eenvoudig die beste om van professionele geregistreerde diensverskaffers gebruik te maak.
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