Reviving rural towns would help drive to curb poverty

One of the most bewildering things when driving through the Eastern Cape’s many rural towns is the state of disrepair of the roads, the decaying infrastructure, the hopelessness in the eyes of the many poor residents.

Poverty is endemic and it seems to me every year we plunge to new depths of despair.

Local town administrators are doing their best it seems but these areas won’t get out of the starting blocks without massive infrastructure investment.

This country has funnelled a lot of investment into major infrastructure projects but little of this will help the rural Eastern Cape.

The power we will generate in Medupi won’t reach the people of Cala if the town’s infrastructure is in a dire state.

I think massive investment in local infrastructure will sprout new economic opportunities in the long term while creating massive employment in the short term. I think the greatest opportunity for the Eastern Cape’s rural towns lies in igniting local economies through local enterprise creation, tethered of course to massive town infrastructure rejuvenation.

Attracting out of town investors can be a tool used to boost the economy of these towns but I think the real sustainable opportunity must be with local enterprise creation.

Industrial recruitment can be quite devastating when those companies find better locations elsewhere in the world.

Big business investors can be subject to boom-bust cycles and therefore pegging a town’s fortune to such vagaries is ill-advised.

But the creation of resilient and vibrant local economies presents us with more sustainable prospects. Our small towns should not seek to mimic the development of Johannesburg or East London but rather use their own unique features as a basis for development.

We should be using municipal funds and national government grants to build town centres that are vibrant and create spaces and facilities to allow young people to start and operate their own community ventures and social enterprises.

We need to create 100 local small businesses in various forms for these towns to emerge from the quagmire of poverty.

Lady Frere, Indwe and Dordrecht have huge potential as adventure and aqua sport destinations, their breathtaking scenery is perfect for mountain biking.

Towns like Butterworth have huge potential as small-scale manufacturing centres. Think of wood products handmade by young people. I’m not suggesting we go in for products of the kind perfected by China but quality products that are unique and handcrafted and can be packaged and branded as products of Gcuwa.

Think of wine racks, unique garden furniture, book shelves etc.

Butterworth’s nascent property sector can be harnessed successfully given its burgeoning student population.

The Industrial Development Corporation’s planned bio-fuels project in Cradock – a R1-billion project to produce fuel grade bioethanol as a primary product and co-products which can be sold as high-protein components into the animal feed market – will spawn new opportunities for that town and many young people should be geared up to exploit those opportunities.

There is a space for small-scale organic farming. Consumers are now searching for organic produce, not the mass-produced food that doctors are cautioning us against, saying these are the root of many modern-day diseases.

We have the land and many unemployed young people who can produce organic crops for local urban dwellers or export markets.

Tourism is the most underdeveloped industry that has huge potential to boost economic growth and reduce unemployment in these towns. Driving on the R410 towards Engcobo from Elliot, there’s a point where a river – I think it’s the Xuka River – meanders through a valley formed by two mountains on either side, and groups of local villages hug the mountainsides as the river makes its way past. It’s a majestic view to behold.

With a proper tourism product packaged and designed superbly, this site would draw many tourists from Germany right through to China.

Tourism should be the mainstay of the Eastern Cape’s economic growth and it can aid the revival of these ailing small rural towns in our Province of Legends.

Queenstown has given South Africa many of our finest jazz giants in the past and continues to produce them even today.

I am astounded this town has nothing to show for this. It can be quite a destination for jazz lovers across the world.

I’m thinking of jazz parks or avenues, jazz museums, and an internationally-renowned jazz festival which can boost owners of accommodation establishments in the town.

All these activities could give South Africa’s “Little Jazz Town” the necessary economic stimulus it needs.

All this can be achieved while using its heritage and unique features.

Look at what Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu have done for Orlando West’s Vilakazi Street.

Lastly, corruption should be dealt with before our lofty mission of rejuvenation takes place. I’m told corruption is more grotesque in rural towns. Cronyism and fleecing of the local government purse will not only bring misery on local residents but will give rise to ghost towns.

To suggest these towns are at an existential crossroads would be banal unless the downward trend is arrested.

Poverty of the scale we see in these small towns affronts even the most rudimentary human rights enshrined in our constitution, makes a mockery of our democracy, nullifies the gains of freedom, smothers the spirit of our new nation but mostly, dims our prospects for the future.

Such poverty gnaws at the moral edifice of our communities and its young people are usually the most affected.

It seems to me creating economically vibrant rural towns is a great start to nipping poverty in the bud.

Thembelani Tukwayo is director of Local Enterprise Workspaces The organisation works with poor communities aiding the growth of locally based businesses.