M.Sc. / Ladysmith is a town situated on the banks of the Klip River in the uThukela District of KwaZulu Natal, and falls into the Emnambithi-Ladysmith Local Municipality. The labour force of the Emnambithi-Ladysmith Local Municipality makes up 32.48 % of the population within the municipality, of which 16.49 % are employed, and 15.99 % are unemployed. A further 22.21 % of the total population in the municipality are not economically active, i.e. are students, homemakers, disabled, too ill to work, or are not seeking work. In an effort to address the poverty within KwaZulu Natal, the Department of Economic Development initiated a process which identified potential poverty-relieving initiatives and proposed to further investigate these development projects to establish which of the identified alternatives would be most feasible and beneficial to target communities. The areas where the poor communities are situated were identified based on the potential ability of the community to be able to support the required infrastructure investment and product development, which were in turn focussed on emerging economic growth points and development corridors (DEAT, 2001). One of the communities identified which could potentially benefit from one of the proposed development projects was that of the Emnambithi-Ladysmith Municipality, in KwaZulu Natal. Emnambithi-Ladysmith Local Municipality appointed a consultant to compile a Local Economic Regeneration Study for Ladysmith and the rural communities of the locality. The Study is aimed at analysing the local economy and thereby finding economic strategies that will make optimum use of local resources to create sustainable job opportunities and means of redressing economic challenges such as retrenchment and unemployment. A significant component of the Study is the identification of projects, which promote local ownership, local jobs and local reinvestment and illustrate the potential to revitalise the local economy of Emnambithi (Urban Econ, 2005). One of the alternative potentially sustainable poverty relief proposals put forward by the consultants, and other relevant parties, was that of harvesting the plant parts of the Aloes which appeared to be abundant within the Emnambithi-Ladysmith Municipality area. It was proposed that an Aloe pre-processing factory be established in a suitable location, which would provide employment opportunities for the local poor communities, who would either be directly employed by the pre-processing factory, or would be appropriately trained to harvest the required raw material from the natural Aloe populations. Similar operations have been initiatedin the Southern and Eastern Cape by formal sector businesses, which produce products made from Aloe ferox, which are then either sold locally or exported. The sustainability of the harvesting of these plants was determined based on the number of leaves which can be harvested per day by a tapper. It was possible to determine that the Aloe marlothii populations within the study area will not be able to support the harvesting of leaves, and as such, the harvesting thereof will not be sustainable. Several recommendations have been made which will further refine the results of this project. The main shortfall of this study was the limitation of the study area by political boundaries. It is thus recommended that a study be conducted which includes all Aloe marlothii habitat areas occurring in the rocky hillsides surrounding Ladysmith, regardless of Ward boundaries.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:8095 |
| Date | 05 February 2009 |
| Creators | Ross, Donnette |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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