Opinion&analysis
DCD Wind Towers jumps on the Eastern Cape bandwagon Entabeni my beginning, Dawn Park my end – what Census 2011 says
Wind Farm projects.
“This and other strategic economic development projects within the region ought to play a meaningful role in the improvement of our people’s standards of living,” Peters said. “The pervasive nature of unemployment, poverty and inequality, particularly in this province, cannot be ignored.”
She said achieving skills transfer, community uplifment and localisation were the centre of the government’s renewable energy programme. It is a programme that is, through its design and implementation, biased towards local economic development.
“This joint venture between CDC Wind Towers, the IDC and Coega epitomises the localisation strategy that the Department of Energy advocates for in the REIPPP. It is through localisation that local industries and small-, medium- and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) get to benefit from our infrastructure and build projects,” Peters said.
She said not only would the DCD project create jobs, but it would also increase knowledge and skills within the area. Education, training and skills development should be prioritised as all jobs created in the renewable energy space had the potential of being turned into careers.
Peters said women empowerment was a transformation imperative that was often overlooked. It was her observation in other projects that women were not adequately represented in managerial positions. “While it should be appreciated that some women do get employed in construction and other areas, there should be fair representation of women in decision-making organs and management echelons.”
ENTABENI, a village in Kusabalele in the mountainous region of the Eastern Cape is about 1 000 kilometres from Dawn Park, a suburb in Boksburg, in the province of Gauteng. Viewed through the eye of three successive censuses, Entabeni and Boksburg is the tale of a country in transition, reflecting the struggle from colonialism and apartheid to freedom.
The struggle for this freedom is often times mired in blood. April 10, 1993 and April 27, 1994 are historic dates in the calendar of South Africa. Post-apartheid censuses capture the tale of these “two cities”: one rural and the other urban, one depopulating and the other increasing in population, one the beginning of life and the other the end of life.
Census 1996, the first census to be conducted under democratic rule, reported that the population of Entabeni was 728, and consisted of 412 males and 316 females. The sex ratio was 130. Sex ratio is defined as the number of females for every 100 males. Fifteen years later, Census 2011, and the third population count under democratic rule, puts the population of Entabeni at 537. This population consists of 251 males and 286 females with a sex ratio of 114.
The population of Entabeni by 2011 had shrunk by 26 percent from 728 to 537. The sex ratio had dropped by 12 percent from 130 to 114. Census 2001, showed that there was a much steeper decline in the size of the population of Entabeni, which had dropped to 571 from 728 over a period of five years, wherein Entabeni lost on average 31 persons every year. For the next 10 years between 2001 and 2011, Entabeni lost three persons per year compared to 31 persons per year in the preceding five years.
Compared with Dawn Park in Boksburg, Entabeni in 1996 was 15 percent the size of Dawn Park, which had 5 004 residents with a sex ratio of 111 females for every 100 males. This compared unfavourably with Entabeni, which had 130 females for every 100 males. By 2011 the population of Dawn Park had doubled to 10 475.
Between 1996 and 2001 the population of Dawn Park had increased to 6 582, implying that Dawn Park gained 315 persons per year. But this momentum accelerated and between 2001 and 2011, the population of Dawn Park increased by 390 persons per year a 23 percent increase in the rate of change over the 10 years. By 2011, the sex ratio of Dawn Park had dropped to 108 females for every 100 males from 111 in 1996.
In terms of service delivery in 1996, Entabeni had no electricity as a source of energy, while by then Dawn Park was fully electrified. By 2001 the situation had changed, but only by a little in Entabeni, where 1 percent of households had electricity. By 2011, however, the picture had changed completely for Entabeni, and 90 percent of households had electricity for lighting, 77 percent used electricity for cooking and 9.9 percent used this source of energy for heating.
Entabeni had, in this period of time, almost caught up with Dawn Park, at least in the use of energy for lighting with both comparing favourably above 90 percent. Over a period of 15 years, through the needle of censuses under democratic rule, urbanisation and rural depopulation have been big driving forces of population dynamics and distribution. The population of Entabeni shrunk by 26 percent, while that of Wanda Park doubled.
Services to rural communities increased and Entabeni in the 15 years was almost at a par with Dawn Park on energy supply, both above 90 percent. On July 28, 1942, Chris Hani (Martin Thembisile) was born in Entabeni in Kusabalele.
Cofimvaba, a town about 50km from this tiny village is often named as the home of Chris Hani – little is known about Entabeni, the hero village. On April 10, 1993, Chris Hani was assassinated in Dawn Park, Boksburg, 1 000km from his place of birth. We celebrate and commemorate April 27 as Freedom Day. In 2011, Chris Hani, an ordinary village lad from Entabeni, had he lived, would have been 71 years old.
Census 2011 announced the place name level data on April 29 in Silvertown, in KwaZakhele, a stronghold of resistance against Census 2011, yet an abiding ambassador shantytown for Census 2011.
Census 2011 brings to you the South Africa I know, the home I understand.