Gert Sibande District 1
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PROFILE: GERT SIBANDE DISTRICT 1 /52 GERT SIBANDE DISTRICT MPUMALANGA Gert Sibande, the largest District in Mpumalanga, covering almost half of the province's geographic area. Apart from featuring the largest land area within the Province, the District has diversified economy that has a largest undermining complex in world and largest agricultural sector, and is home to major industrial complexes associated with the petro- chemical industry (SASOL). PROFILE: GERT SIBANDE DISTRICT 2 CONTENT 1. Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... 4 2. Intoduction: Brief Overview ......................................................................................... 6 2.1 Location ......................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Historical perspective ..................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Spatial Status ................................................................................................................. 7 3. Social Development Profile ......................................................................................... 9 3.1 Key Social Demographics .............................................................................................. 9 3.1.1 Population ........................................................................................................... 9 3.1.2 Race, Gender and Age ..................................................................................... 10 3.1.3 Households ....................................................................................................... 11 3.2 Health profile ................................................................................................................ 11 3.3 COVID-19 .................................................................................................................... 12 3.3.1 Quarantine Facilities Available and Assessed ................................................... 13 3.3.2 Community Screening and Testing ................................................................... 14 3.4 Poverty Dimensions ..................................................................................................... 14 3.4.1 Distribution ........................................................................................................ 14 3.4.2 Inequality .......................................................................................................... 15 3.4.3 Employment/Unemployment ............................................................................. 15 3.4.4 Crime ................................................................................................................ 16 3.4.5 Education and Skills profile ............................................................................... 17 4. Drivers of the Economy ............................................................................................. 18 4.1 Structure of the economy ............................................................................................. 18 4.1.1 Primary Sector .................................................................................................. 19 4.1.2 Secondary Sector ............................................................................................. 19 4.1.3 Tertiary Sector .................................................................................................. 19 5. Service Delivery ......................................................................................................... 20 5.1 Water and sanitation .................................................................................................... 20 5.2 Human settlements ...................................................................................................... 21 5.3 Electricity...................................................................................................................... 21 5.4 Waste Management ..................................................................................................... 21 5.5 Transport...................................................................................................................... 22 6. Governance and Management .................................................................................. 23 6.1 Municipal performance ................................................................................................. 23 6.2 Municipal Capacity ....................................................................................................... 24 6.3 Traditional Affairs Governance ..................................................................................... 24 PROFILE: GERT SIBANDE DISTRICT 3 7. Projects to Diversify and Grow People and the Economy ...................................... 25 7.1 Social Development Projects........................................................................................ 25 7.2 Spatial Development .................................................................................................... 25 7.3 Infrastructure Projects .................................................................................................. 27 7.4 Economic Projects ....................................................................................................... 28 7.5 Environmental forecast................................................................................................. 28 8. Key Recommendations .............................................................................................. 29 PROFILE: GERT SIBANDE DISTRICT 4 1. Executive Summary INFOGRAPHIC ABOUT THE DISTRICT ON THIS PAGE PROFILE: GERT SIBANDE DISTRICT 5 Gert Sibande District Municipality is (GSDM) one of the three district municipalities located in the Mpumalanga Province. It is bordered by the Ehlanzeni District Municipality to the north-east and Nkangala District Municipality to the north, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State Provinces to the south, Swaziland to the east, and Gauteng Province to the west. The District is the largest of the three Districts in the Mpumalanga Province at 31 841 km², covering 40% of the Mpumalanga Province’s total land mass of 76 495 km². It is comprised of seven local municipalities: Govan Mbeki, Chief Albert Luthuli, Msukaligwa, Dipaleseng, Mkhondo, Lekwa and Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme. The district has strategic economical national roads that pass through it, including the N11, which goes through to the N2 in KwaZulu-Natal, the N17 from Gauteng passing through to Swaziland, and the N3 from Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal. The size of the population in the district was estimated at 1 122 590 in 2019, with an average grown rate of 1.1% per annum between 2009 and 2019. This makes the District the smallest amongst the three in terms of population size. In Gert Sibande, the share of the population below the lower-bound poverty line has deteriorated over the last couple of years to 45.1% in 2017, making it the second highest of the 3 Districts in the province. The total number of people below the lower- bound poverty line was high at 496 921 in 2017, with Mkhondo having the highest number. Govan Mbeki is the largest contributor to the economy of the GSDM at 49% of the total GDP followed by Msukaligwa and Lekwa at 15.5% and 10.5%, respectively. The mining and manufacturing sectors are strong economic drivers in the District and have a significant presence in Govan Mbeki LM. The service-related sectors of trade, transport, finance and community services are dominant economic drivers in Lekwa and Msukaligwa. Across the Mpumalanga Province, there are 271 confirmed COVID-19 positive cases as at 13 June 2020, with 116 recoveries and one death. Gert Sibande District recorded its first positive case in the Govan Mbeki Local Municipality on 17 March 2020. As at 12 June 2020, GSDM had reported 81 positive cases with 40 recoveries. PROFILE: GERT SIBANDE DISTRICT 6 2. Intoduction: Brief Overview 2.1 Location Gert Sibande District Municipality (GSDM) is one of the three District Municipalities that constitute Mpumalanga Province. GSDM is bordered by the Ehlanzeni District Municipality to the north-east and Nkangala District Municipality to the north, KwaZulu- Natal and the Free State to the south, Swaziland to the east, and Gauteng to the west. It is one of the districts with the highest number of local municipalities, which total seven in number. The district comprises the local municipalities of Chief Albert Luthuli LM, Dipaleseng LM, Dr. Pixley Isaka Ka Seme LM, Govan Mbeki LM, Lekwa LM, Mkhondo LM and Msukaligwa LM. MAP OF THE DISTRICT PROFILE: GERT SIBANDE DISTRICT 7 2.2 Historical perspective Gert Sibande is the largest district in Mpumalanga, covering almost half of the province's geographic area. Apart from featuring the largest land area within the Province, the district has a diversified economy with the largest undermining complex in the world. It also has the largest agricultural sector, and is home to major industrial complexes associated with the petro-chemical industry (SASOL). The area between Carolina, Bethal and Ermelo produces the most sheep and wool in South Africa. Gert Sibande District Municipality was named after Richard Gert Sibande (born 1907 near Ermelo, Mpumalanga, died in 1987) who was a South African political activist. He was one of the co-accused to