2011 Makci Nomination Form
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Name*:______________________________Email*____________________________ Affiliation*:_____________________________________________________________ *This information will remain strictly confidential, only needed for auditing purposes. Nominated City*: ____ Kymberly _____ (Country:____South Africa__________) City Category*: Emerging Knowledge City Knowledge City-Region c Knowledge Metropolis c *Please use one MAKCi Nomination form for each nominated city. You can nominate as many cities as you like. Please make sure you nominate each city for one category only . 17 MAKCi Questions (They are grouped together according Supporting reasons and relevant information, documents and links (to be MAKCi Framework to capital provided/posted by expert) on the MAKCi Forum categories ) 1. How distinctive and well positioned is the city’s identity (how valuable is the city’s brand and reputation)? (1. Identity). Founded after the discovery of diamonds on farms in the area in 1869–71, the mining camp of Kimberley grew as a result of the intensive digging of the diamond-bearing pipe at the hill called Colesberg Koppie. The camp was named after John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley, who was then British colonial secretary. The town of Kimberley was created in 1878 and incorporated into the Cape Colony in 1880. In 1885 the Cape Town Railway reached Kimberley, and during the South African War the town was besieged by the Boers for 126 days until relieved by Gen. John French on February 15, 1900. City status was granted in 1912 with absorption of the mining town of Beaconsfield. After 1888 the Kimberley Mine at Colesberg Koppie and most other mines in the area were controlled by a trust organized by Cecil Rhodes, with production placed in the hands of De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. Kimberley Mine (now called the Big Hole; 0.9 mile [1.5 km] in circumference), long the richest diamond-producing mine in the world, was closed in 1914, but several other mines remain productive, and diamond mining and cutting remain prominent industries. 2. How good is the city knowledge-based development strategy and the capability to enact it? (1. Identity) As a city in South Africa, Kimberly utilizes the educational system of the country as a whole, as well as the capital city of the province of Northern MAKCi Nomination Form © 2006 The World Capital Institute &Teleos 1 Cape; it also has a local department of educations that focus od the implementation of the system, as well as resolves local problems and issues. School education is compulsory for all children between 7 and 16 years of age or through ninth grade, whichever is reached first, and begins in one of the 11 official languages. After second grade, students begin learning another language. The right to a basic education is guaranteed in the constitution. The country has a national educational system, which oversees the education implemented in the provinces. The school system contains both private and public schools. During the apartheid era, schools run by white education departments had the best resources in the public school system, and white-oriented private schools received substantial public subsidies. Although some of these schools began to admit black pupils after 1990, informal white resistance, capacity limitations, and fees (often newly imposed with apparent exclusionary intent) generally have kept blacks out of historically white public schools. Private schools, many of which offer superior educational programs, remain largely inaccessible to most blacks because of the high cost. In an effort to rectify past inequalities, the government has pledged significant resources toward improving the physical and learning environment of the school system. To that end, the government implemented a new national curriculum in the early 21st century. Literacy rates in South Africa are high by African standards. Since 1970, literacy rates have grown from one-half to four-fifths of the population. 3. How good are the city’s strategic intelligence systems (e.g. does it have a Future Center or equivalent initiative?) (2. Intelligence) Kimberly houses the McGregor Museum, Housed at first in a purpose-built museum building in Chapel Street, Kimberley, and spreading to occupy further spaces in the city, the museum was, and still is, governed by a Board of Trustees, aided financially by the Kimberley municipality (up to the 1950s), then by the Cape Provincial Administration and, today, by the Northern Cape Administration through the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. In May 2014 it was declared a Provincial Public Entity, effective from 1 April 2014. Alexander McGregor had been a Mayor of Kimberley, whose wife bequeathed the building to perpetuate his memory. Today the museum has its headquarters at the old Kimberley Sanatorium building in Belgravia, Kimberley, and it has several satellites including the original building in Chapel Street.[3] The museum was found on 24 September 1907. By coincidence 24 September was chosen as Heritage Day, a public holiday in South Africa post-1994. The McGregor Museum is a primary research institute in and for the Northern Cape (and is anticipated to have a role in articulation with the School of Heritage which is to be a part of the Sol Plaatje University[4]) in fields of natural and cultural history (including zoology, botany, general MAKCi Nomination Form © 2006 The World Capital Institute &Teleos 2 history, South African struggle history, archaeology, social anthropology). It curates important collections and archival material (see below) and, on the basis of its collections and research activities, performs educational and outreach functions to the community locally and throughout the province. Research programs include international collaborative projects. 4. How strong is the city’s social cohesion? (4. Relational) According to the 2011 census, the population of Kimberley "proper" was 96,977, while the townships Galeshewe and Roodepan had populations of 107,920[46] and 20,263 respectively. This gives the urban area a total population of 225,160. Of this population, 63.1% identified themselves as "Black African", 26.8% as "Coloured", 8.0% as "White" and 1.2% as "Indian or Asian". 43.2% of the population spoke Afrikaans as their first language, 35.8% spoke Setswana, 8.7% spoke English, 6.0% spoke isiXhosa and 2.7% spoke Sesotho. In South Africa the principle of social cohesion can be viewed as an important, humanist philosophical mission intended to counter the apartheid belief system based on racism, exclusion, partition and gross human abuse. Reinforcing and bolstering this mission is the principle of nation building. It advocates the actual coming together of the country’s diverse histories, languages, cultures and more. Together these aspirations coalesce, culminating in the quest to establish a single, inclusive, national community. This quite strikingly invalidates a core ambition of the apartheid system. Despite the noble goals of the new South Africa, in 2012 the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation found that less than a fifth of South Africans always or often socialized with others in residential areas, while only 21.6% sometimes do and 56.6% rarely or never do. 5. How good are the city’s regional, national and international relations? (4. Relational). The city doesn´t have international accords with other cities, and does not have any sister cities or partners. 6. How healthy are public financial accounts? (3. Financial) Kimberley was the initial hub of industrialization in South Africa in the late nineteenth century, which transformed the country’s agrarian economy into one more dependent on its mineral wealth. A key feature of the new economic arrangement was migrant labor, with the demand for African labor in the mines of Kimberley (and later on the gold fields) drawing workers in growing numbers from throughout the subcontinent. The labor compound system developed in Kimberley from the 1880s was later replicated on the gold mines and elsewhere. As reported by the Northern Cape Provincial Government, unemployment still remains a big issue in the province. Unemployment MAKCi Nomination Form © 2006 The World Capital Institute &Teleos 3 was reported to be at 24.9% during Q4, 2013. Unemployment also declined from 119,000 in Q4, 2012 to 109,000 in Q4, 2013. The Northern Cape is also home to the much acclaimed SKA (Square Kilometer Array) which is located 75 km North-West of Carnarvon. The economy of the Northern Cape relies heavily on two sectors, namely Mining and Agriculture, which employs 57% (Tertiary Sector) of all employees in the province. Most famous for the diamond mines around Kimberley, the Northern Cape also has a substantial agricultural area around the Orange River, including most of South Africa's sultana vineyards. Some Wine of Origin areas have been demarcated. The Orange River also attracts visitors who enjoy rafting tours around Vioolsdrif. Extensive sheep raising is the basis of the economy in the southern Karoo areas of the province. 7. How good is the city’s location, climate and physical landscape? (Instrumental tangible) Kimberley is set in a relatively flat landscape with no prominent topographic features within the urban limits. The only "hills" are debris dumps generated by more than a century of diamond mining. From the 1990s these were being recycled and poured back into De Beers Mine (by 2010 it was filled to within a few tens of meters of the surface). Certain of the mine dumps, in the vicinity of the Big Hole, have been proclaimed as heritage features and are to be preserved as part of the historic industrial landscape of Kimberley. The surrounding rural landscape, not more than a few minutes’ drive from any part of the city, consists of relatively flat plains dotted with hills, mainly outcropping basement rock (andesite) to the north and north west, or Karoo age dolerite to the south and east. Shallow pans formed in the plains. One of Kimberley’s famous features is Kamfers Dam, a large pan north of the city, which is an important wetland supporting a breeding colony of lesser flamingos.