Western people first settled in the Cape in 1652 but made almost no inroads into the Karoo prior to about 1800. Before that time, large herds of antelope, zebra and other large game roamed the grassy flats of the region. The Khoi and Bushmen, last of the southern African Stone Age peoples, wandered far and wide. There were no Europeans and no Africans of Bantu extraction. (The area was never wet enough for cattle and this is probably the main reason why it was never occupied by the Bantu). The two ethnic groups mentioned above differed substantially in their cultures and lifestyles; the Hottentots were described as graziers of sheep and cattle, while the Bushmen were hunter-gatherers. With the occupation of the region by European settlers, sheep gradually replaced the game and the cover of grass degenerated, owing to changes in the pattern of grazing and in the climate.
Starting in the middle years of the 19th century, a railway track was extended into the Karoo from Worcester in the south. This eventually extended its tendrils to Bechuanaland, South West Africa, Johannesburg, Rhodesia and far beyond. The impact of this railroad on the history of southern Africa is difficult to exaggerate.
During the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, three Republican commando units, reinforced by the rebels from the Cape Colony, conducted widespread operations throughout the Karoo. Countless skirmishes took place in the region, with the Calvinia magisterial district, in particular, contributing a significant number of fighters to the Republican cause. Fought both conventionally and as a guerrilla struggle over the Karoo's vast expanses, it was a bloody war of attrition wherein both sides used newly developed technologies to their advantage. Numerous abandoned blockhouses can still be seen at strategic locations throughout the Great Karoo; a prime example is located next to the Geelbeks River, 12 kilometres outside the town of Laingsburg.
Currently sheep farming is still the economic backbone of the Karoo, with other forms of agriculture established in areas where irrigation is possible. The Karoo is also well known for their Karoo lamb. Popular belief is that Karoo lamb is tastier and more flavoursome than lamb from other regions, with variances in taste brought about by the different types of grasses, herbs and shrubbery on which the animals feed. The fragrant bossies impart an unmistakable ‘herbiness' on Karoo lamb that has, perhaps nostalgically, become synonymous with wholesomeness and South African tradition. Lately game farms and tourism have also started to make an economic impact.
The node is part of the WCDM 05 in the Western Cape and has two local Municipalities which include: Beaufort West Municipality (WC053) (7 wards) and Prince Albert Municipality (WC052). Laingsburg Municipality (WC051) and DMA-Murraysburg (WCDMA05) which is part of the District Municipality which form part of the Central Karoo has been excluded as nodal areas but a political decision have been taken that these two areas would be treated as if they form part of the node. This had certain implications in terms of decision-taking, planning and resourcing the node and influenced corporation that will be discussed under institutional arrangements.
The node is Central Karoo Local Municipality; a political decision was taken in the district to include other two areas for management purposes. The focus of the projects in this node includes infrastructure and local economic development, social upliftment, land, agriculture and environmental sustainability.
The population of the Central Karoo spread is as follows: Beaufort West Municipality 37107, Prince Albert Municipality 10512, Laingsburg Municipality 6681 and DMA-Murraysburg 6184.
The Great Karoo has an area of more than 400,000 square kilometers. From a geological point of view it has been a vast inland basin for most of the past 250 million years. At one stage the area was glaciated and the evidence for this is found in the widely-distributed Dwyka tillite. Later, at various times, there were great inland deltas, seas, lakes or swamps. Enormous deposits of coal formed and these are one of the pillars of the economy of South Africa today. Volcanic activity took place on a titanic scale. Despite this baptism of fire, ancient reptiles and amphibians prospered in the wet forests and their remains have made the Karoo famous amongst palaeontologists.
Towns and settlements in the central area of the Great Karoo still reflect the ethnic bouquet that shaped the present-day inhabitants of this sparsely populated region - hunter-gatherers, indigenous tribesmen, Dutch and British settlers and the early slaves.
Flitting across the map from the north there is Three Sisters, a popular fuel and refreshment stop along the main N1 arterial highway. It takes its name from the three almost identical dolerite topped hills in the background.
Nelspoort is just off the N1, and is the site in the Great Karoo richest in Xam (Bushman) engravings or petroglyphs. Across the plains and under the mountains lies little Murraysburg, once the scene of a frantic oil search.
Beaufort West is the largest and oldest town in the arid Central Karoo region, and forms part of the Beaufort West Local Municipality, with 37 000 inhabitants in 2001.
Beaufort West was established in 1818 in an attempt to curb growing lawlessness and gun running in the interior. It was initially named Beaufort after Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort, who was the father of Lord Charles Henry Somerset, then governor of the Cape Colony. The town was renamed Beaufort West in 1869 to avoid confusion with Port Beaufort in the Western Cape as well as Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape.
The town became prosperous with the introduction of Saxon Merino sheep by one of its early citizens, John Molteno. Molteno, a young Anglo-Italian immigrant (later nicknamed "the Lion of Beaufort"), founded the first bank in 1854 and went on to become the first Prime Minister of the Cape and the champion of the responsible government movement.
Beaufort West became the first municipality in South Africa in 1837 and had the country's first town hall. When the railroad reached the town in 1880 it became a marshalling yard and locomotive depot and today it is the largest town in the Karoo.
Professor Christiaan Barnard, the town’s most famous son, performed the first successful human-to-human heart transplant. He is honoured in the local museum, which houses a display of awards presented to him and a replica of the original heart transplant theatre.
Beaufort West is the site of one of the largest migrations of mammals on record. In 1849, Sir John Fraser (son of the local Dutch Reformed Church minister) observed and famously documented a herd of Springbok that took three days to pass the town.
Today it is the centre of an agricultural district based mainly on sheep farming, and is a significant town on the N1 national road. Next door to Beaufort West is the Karoo National Park. Important fossils have been found in the area, initially by David Baird, son of the local magistrate in 1827.
As part of a drive to create employment opportunities, a hydroponics project was started and now supplies premium herbs and vegetables nationally. The old Town Hall and the Dutch Reformed Church have been declared national monuments.
Lying at the entrance to scenic Meiringspoort, Klaarstroom is the settlement from where South Africa's last wagon transport business was conducted. On a nearby farm there is a witblits (or white lightning) still, now a national monument which produces the powerful white spirit to this day.
Leeu Gamka on the N1 is a small settlement where the last of a now extinct species, the Cape lion, was shot in 1857.
Way off the beaten track, Merweville lies in an area of the Great Karoo strongly resembling Nevada. On the outskirts of this small town is the grave of an Australian soldier who was so disturbed at the thought of fighting Boers during the Anglo-Boer War that he committed suicide.
Prince Albert Road began life as a convenience stop for travellers, which purpose it still serves.
Situated at the foot of the Swartberg mountain range near the entrance to the famous Swartberg Pass, Prince Albert is unique in that almost all Cape architectural styles are found there. Near the town an aardvark sparked a gold rush in the last century when he unearthed a huge nugget.
Laingsburg and its surroundings are considered to be one of the most interesting geological areas of the Great Karoo. Alongside the main road are layers of fossilised mudstone and layers of volcanic ash blown across from South America 250 million years ago.
A short run south lies Matjiesfontein, a perfectly preserved piece of Queen Victoria's British Empire. To stay at the Lord Milner Hotel there is to enter HG Wells's time machine.
The Karoo, the central high-plateau of South Africa, is surrounded by the mighty mountain chains of the escarpment. The rain, brought by the humid sea winds, goes down over the weather side of the mountain slopes, so that the lee side stays basically dry. Therefore, the endless grassland of the Karoo gets as little as 400 mm of rain annually, which falls mainly in summer. The winter months are almost completely dry. Precipitation gets even lighter towards the north-west. In the upper Karoo it rains on average less than 200 mm per year, which makes it an arid, semi-desert zone (meaning that precipitation is less than the rate of evaporation).
Due to the average altitude of 1200 m on the central high-plateau, temperatures in summer are usually bearable, although the thermometer reading can sometimes go over 35 degrees Celsius. Towards the north-west, in the direction of the Kalahari basin, due to the lower elevation, temperature are even higher. (100m difference in altitude corresponds to 1 degree temperature difference.) In Upington, for example, at the lower Orange River, one can expect temperatures of around 40 degrees in summer. The best time to travel in the Karoo is between May and September. During the day, it is pleasantly warm and sunny (20 - 25 degrees C), and at night it gets cool enough for a good sleep.
The economy of Central Karoo is described in terms of GDP (output), employment and consolidated sectoral analysis.
Sectoral contribution to GDP
Transport and communication (21,4%) together with finance and business services
(18,4%) are the major sectors in terms of GDP contribution. These sectors also
showed the highest growth rate over the past decade.
Sectoral contribution to employment
The agriculture and forestry sector is the single largest employer in the node,
accounting for 30,8% of all jobs, although the public sector is also a major source of
employment (17,8%). The transport and communication sector, the largest in terms
of value contribution to GGP (21,4%), contributes only 4,7% to formal employment in
the district.
Tourism
According to Quantec the tourism sector employed 4,2% of the total workforce in
Central Karoo in 2004; however, the contribution from tourism to the total GDP was
not more than 2,3%. Western Cape is a prime tourist destination attracting 22% of all
foreign visitors to South Africa and hosting about 2,53 million domestic trips every
year. Central Karoo is, however, not part of this tourism boom and only 3% of
domestic and 2% of overseas visitors to the Western Cape cite Central Karoo as
their prime destination. The region is mainly seen as a convenient stop en route
between Gauteng and Cape Town and very few visitors stay longer than one night.
The fact that the tourism sector performs so badly despite the excellent location
along the N1 can be explained by the lack of attractions and activities to retain
tourists for a longer period. Besides the tranquillity and beautiful scenery, Central
Karoo offers historic towns like Matjesfontein and Beaufort West together with the
famous Karoo National Park. Karoo is one 20 parks belonging to the South African
National Parks (SANParks) and offers hiking trails, accommodation, conference
facilities but a relatively limited amount of game. The main source markets are
Gauteng and Western Cape for domestic visitors and Germany for overseas tourists.
Currently the following facilities exist:
• Luxury trains Rovos Rail and the Blue Train both stop in Matjesfontein in southwestern Central Karoo.
• The Karoo National Park offers hiking trails, accommodation, conference facilities and some species of game.
• Places of historic interest include the Victorian town of Matjesfontein and the Chris Barnard museum.
• Accommodation facilities offered in the region include 302 hotel beds, 213 self-catering beds, 100 bed & breakfast beds, 99 guesthouse beds, and four backpacker beds.
Cold storage facility
There is extensive agricultural production around Prince Albert and Swartberg in the
southern part of Central Karoo. Apricots especially are of very high quality and are
exported to major fruit markets. Apricot production is seasonal. During the off season,
there is very little production and few employment opportunities. Future development in progress is to build a cold storage facility in order to keep stocks of apricots and have year-round agri-processing and production of, for example, jam. Apricots of lower quality cannot be exported and must be sold locally at a low price. If there were appropriate storage facilities, these apricots could be used in jam production or sold as dried fruit.
Exporting not only fresh fruit but also jam and dry fruit could substantially increase the income from apricot production. It is estimated that the storage facility together with further processing and transport could create 300 jobs in Prince Albert and 150 in Laingsburg.
Beaufort West Hydroponics Expansion Project
Hydroponic production of fresh herbs has been established in Beaufort West. The
idea is to expand existing factory operations. Substantial investments have already
been made in infrastructure, such as:
• Five greenhouses covering 8 000 m2 have been constructed.
• Israeli hydroponic technology has been imported.
• Two delivery trucks have been acquired.
Skilled employees are in place and technical advice partnerships exist. Current
output has met stringent quality standards, and the plant supplies Woolworths’ Cape
Town operations. Evidence of market demand suggests the project could triple its
current output. Beaufort West is centrally located in terms of major metropolitan
centres. By expanding production, 60 additional jobs could be created.
Central Karoo Leather Expansion Project
Leather factories have been established in Beaufort West and Laingsburg as part of a national poverty alleviation programme. The idea is to expand existing factory operations. Substantial investments in infrastructure have already been made in that factory space has been acquired, machinery has been bought and installed, employees have undergone training and skills transfer is taking place.
Skin processing
The Central Karoo is a predominantly sheep farming region, with well-established
slaughtering facilities. Currently animals are slaughtered and then exported, with no
further processing of skins taking place in the district. The idea is to expand current
abattoir value-adding activities to include skin processing. The area is faced with
declining sheep numbers, leading to abattoir overcapacity. Abattoirs are importing
sheep to alleviate the overcapacity, but this is not sufficient to drive growth. Further
value-adding processes could help in this respect. There is already a local market for
processed skins. Newly established leather factories in the node are currently forced
to import raw materials from Cape Town. This can cause delays in their production
schedule and limit control over the imports they receive. An estimated five to ten jobs
could be created through the expansion of existing abattoir operations into skin
processing. A spin-off effect could be increased employment opportunities in leather
manufacturing.
Skin processing is a water-intensive process and water availability is currently
limited. Water purification technology will also be required to clean water at the end
of the process.
Tourism – Karoo National Park
The Karoo National Park is currently the main tourism attraction in Central Karoo
offering beautiful scenery, hiking trails and conference facilities. Few people visiting
the Western Cape actually visit the Karoo and the Karoo National Park. One major
reason is the very limited game offered. By introducing leopard, cheetah and buffalo,
a larger number of tourists could be attracted to visit the park and overnight there as
only a few national parks in the Western Cape offer the Big 5 species. At most two
species are offered in the Western Cape (Tsitsikamma and Knysna), and the nearest
Big 5 park is in the Eastern Cape (Addo). Although it is not possible for lion or
elephant to survive in the Karoo semi-desert, there is potential for buffalo, leopard
and more rhino. With this game offering Karoo National Park could be the major
destination among the Western Cape national parks.
Today only 15% of the park is accessible to tourists and there is potential to create
more tourist routes through the park. New roads are needed for this. The park also
needs to be upgraded with an extensive fencing programme before wild and
dangerous animals are introduced.
With more accommodation and other services, fencing programmes and road upgrades,
the number of job opportunities will increase.
The breakdown of households without access to basic services is as follows: 16% are without electricity, 4% are without piped water, 20% are without waste removal services, and 59% are without access to a telephone. Just over half (52.3%) of households comprise one to three people.
The majority of households (97,9%) live in formal dwellings, while informal dwellings account for only 2,1% of households.
About 60 484 people live in an area that covers 38 874 km2, resulting in a population density of 1,6 people/km2.
LMs as follows: Beaufort West (37 107); Prince Albert (10 512); and Laingsburg (6 681).
Of the population, 79,9% are urban and 20,1% are rural based.
Over 57,2% of Central Karoo’s population are younger than 29 years of age; while most households are headed by men (64,9%). The predominant language in the node is Afrikaans (89,3%).
Seventeen per cent of people in the node do not have any school education, while
28% have some primary education, 31% have some secondary education, 15%
have completed Grade 12, and 6% have some form of higher education.
A lack of tertiary facilities provides a barrier to further education. Where funds for tertiary education are available, students are forced to leave the district to continue their studies.
The Central Karoo district (Murraysburg, Beaufort West, Leeu Gamka, Prins Albert and Laingsburg) has a population of 62,331. The unemployment rate is 36%, which includes a large percentage of youth. Factors that exacerbate the vulnerability of these children recruited or introduction to crime, include substance abuse, commercial sexual exploitation,child labour as well as trafficking are the lack of employment opportunities in their community.
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