A REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF
A REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF LIMPOPO PROVINCE Northam Platinum has invested in increasing production capacity at its Zondereinde mine via its Number Three Shaft expansion project. Progress has been made in three decades of democracy and mining and agriculture have shown the potential to fuel further gains in economic growth in Limpopo. By John Young Limpopo’s rural nature has not changed much in the 30 years since democracy was introduced to South Africa in 1994, but the quality of life for rural residents has improved. When the map for the new South Africa was redrawn with nine provinces, Limpopo was assigned the most residents of former homelands, the areas deliberately deprived of development and funding by the apartheid government. For this reason, successive provincial administrations have faced an uphill task LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2024/25 10 PHOTO: Northam Platinum
SPECIAL FEATURE to bring services to citizens. The delivery of water remains a huge challenge but entities have been restructured and detailed plans have been put in place to rectify the situation which has proved a stubborn block on progress. Regarding sanitation, however, Limpopo has done well, with Stats SA describing the province’s efforts in upgrading flush toilets and pit toilets with ventilation pipes as “notable increases”. Between 2002 and 2024 access to sanitation improved in the province from 26.9% to 63.1%, having come off a negligible baseline in 1994. Significant progress has been made with regard to electrification, healthcare provision (the province now has 476 clinics) and the tarring of rural roads. A TIPS survey reported that, “In 2021, 75% of the population lived in non-urban areas and 6% in farms, compared to 26% and 5% for the country as a whole.” About six-million people live in Limpopo, with two large towns accounting for 13% of the province’s population. Polokwane, the provincial capital, has experienced enormous growth in recent years. Its population was recorded in 2022 as 843 459 with greater Tzaneen being 478 254. Investment Limpopo is doing its best to attract new investors to the province. A number of targeted conferences have been held in several key sectors and the teams leading the push to establish Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Limpopo have been working hard to promote the Musina-Makhado SEZ and the Fetakgomo-Tubatse SEZ. The first annual investment conference was held in 2021. Since then, R280-billion in investment pledges have been made (SOPA 2024). The sectors in which these investments have been promised are mining, agriculture, agroprocessing, green energy, property development, trade, catering and accommodation. In the north of the province, a number of tourism projects have been launched in the last 18 months, and several more are in the pipeline. Major investments have also been made in the province’s young people. The province has the highest percentage of children younger than 15 at 33.2% (Stats SA). The Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) has set out to reduce the digital divide between rural and urban populations and help young people to prepare for the digital world in which they will work. To that end a SMART Skills Centre has been opened in Letaba TVET College’s Modjajiskloof campus. Another SETA, merSETA, will spend R137-million in 2024/25 rolling out a skills development targeting crucial skills, including motor mechanics and welding. The province is home to two universities, the University of Venda and the University of Limpopo, and seven Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. The Turfloop Graduate School of Business is in Polokwane. Provincial assets Limpopo covers about 10% of South Africa’s land mass and is home to about the same proportion of the country’s population. The main languages of the people of Limpopo are Sesotho, Xitsonga and Tshivenda but English is widely used in business and government. The Limpopo Province’s 125 754km² covers a remarkably diverse geographical and cultural landscape that is also rich in minerals and agricultural products. The N1 highway is a key reason for the province’s important role in the nation’s logistics sector. It passes through Limpopo from the south to the border town of Musina and on to Zimbabwe and its neighbours in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The busy N11 highway links the province to Botswana to the west and Mpumalanga Province to the east. Most of South Africa’s logistics operators have a presence in the provincial capital city of Polokwane and logistics hubs have been established in that city and in Musina. Limpopo’s assets include the largest diamond mine in South Africa (De Beers’ Venetia Mine), the biggest copper mine in South Africa (Palabora Mining Company), the biggest open-pit platinum mine in the country (Anglo America’s Mogalakwena) and the biggest vermiculite mine in the world. The province has 41% of South Africa’s PGMs, 90% of South Africa’s red-granite resources and approximately 50% of the country’s coal reserves. Antimony, a highly strategic mineral found in large quantities in China, is another of Limpopo’s major assets. Mining has been the sector growing the fastest in Limpopo. From the year 2000, the sector has 11 LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2024/25
