Latest / TIPS Podcast / JUST SA Northern Cape — Nthuseng Rabohome

Transcript

JUST SA Northern Cape — Nthuseng Rabohome · TIPS Podcast

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Trade Industrial Policy Strategies official podcast Tips Talk.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: The show we delve into the fascinating world of economics and the impact on global development.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Elise Hutting, and today we are asking why it is important for local and provincial government officials in the northern Cain Province to understand the impacts of climate change, the imperative to decarbonize our economy as well as making that transition truly just.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: We are finding ourselves in Kimberley, and we are turning policy into action.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Our special guest that's with me is Miss N Tuseng Rabeho.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And she would like to introduce herself and tell us a little bit more about your background, your role, where you find yourself within the province.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So over to you and welcome.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your time.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me, Elisa.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Tuseng Rabu Hume from John Tao Khaizo District Municipality, which is located in Kuruman in Northern Cape.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Kuruman is between Northwest and Cape Town.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I actually grew up very close to Kuruman, between Kuruman and the Freiberg, so where the Northern Cape Province and the Western Cape Province, you know, connect.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: So Kuruman is also close to my heart, but I know that it's also very hot in Kuruman.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Kuruman is a mining town.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: What is there mostly?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's mines.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: We have iron mine and we have manganese mines.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Then we also have a bit of agriculture, we have bit of farming, it's a rural area where we have three local municipalities, which is Hamakara, it's mostly mining, and it's Hasjonana, then there is Jomorolong.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Jomorolong is rural areas where most of the communities there they only survive with pension and grants.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: We have close to 300 villages in Kuruman.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Those villages are not safest in terms of waste.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: So most of our communities they pay their waste because even recycling is not a simple thing to do, even though we do awareness, but it's not easy for them to recite because they have to load the staff to town.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: And distances Northern Keep is very vast.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Our Kuruman is very vast.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's other areas where you travel 200 kilometers from your area to town.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you can see it's not easy for them to bring their recitables for exchange.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: So mostly there are people who are collecting only aluminums because it seems easier, and also they can make a little bit of money with that.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: But other recyclables they cannot be recycled because of distance.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Kuruman is we have also shortage of water.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Climate is very hot in Kurman.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: There is drought, there's floods, there is fires.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's what you mostly find in Kurman.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: It depends on the season.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now we are going to a season of heat and floods.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that's Kuruman.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: This seems like your municipality is increasingly facing vulnerabilities regarding climate change.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: In your role, do you think there's a sufficient adaptation funding and programs to actually respond to this ever-changing climate?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And how are you adapting to that?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a mandate, is there resources to respond, or do you feel that you often may be a bit more left behind and vulnerable?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Mostly I'll say we are still left behind in Kurman.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing that I didn't mention, there is also we are led by the chiefs, the tribal offices, we are led by the municipality.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: And now that some of the challenges we are facing is that the traditional leaders, they give out land without even consulting with the municipalities.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like you find most of communities that stay in the low-lying areas.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: So mostly when there is disaster, we cannot respond.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: People are very vulnerable.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And remember, those people, most of them, you build a house there.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: If I tell you that you are in a wrong area, it's not easy for you to move.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: And the municipality doesn't have also capacity to make sure everyone moves there.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And if recent floods, there was also a lot of even our roads, we don't have roads.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Most of the areas we have gravel roads, we don't have bridges.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes when it rains too much, there is no even movement from that area to another.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: And also the health system, it's a mess because now the traveling to the hospitals, we have two hospitals of which uh they cannot carry the whole villages that I've mentioned, 300 villages.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: So which means when people are sick is also a problem because there is heat, there is floods, now is summer, so it's not gonna be easy even for people to travel around.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And some of the people they use donkeys to travel, donkey chugs to move around.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So the vulnerabilities in terms of your infrastructure challenges, road infrastructure, and disaster infrastructure, I mean, that is on the community side is quite severe.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do you find that that is also an impact on the mining industry, moving trucks and logistics?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: If there's road infrastructure challenges and floods, how does it impact the mining industry and the private sector and the logistics?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Emma, mining sector, it does affect us because most of the trucks they pass through our towns, our areas.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's usually a chaos because remember the roads in town are not meant for bigger loads when they pass, which means everything has to stand still so that they can be able to pass.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not easy to have that kind of environment.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: And also we understand also the mines they bring some sort of relief in some of the areas because they do help us where they can.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: But we feel that if maybe there can be a way around that trucks must not pass through town and they use another route.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: They also there are the waste part.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think the mines, all their waste is coming to our landfill site until they have their own landfill site.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it's also another challenge because now these people who are staying there by the landfill sites.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a mess because you know everyone that if you see this is from the mine, everyone wants to have part of that waste.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: I see.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So the mines waste becomes a problem, but also some opportunities for some people.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the cost of the landfall management as well is another, because it's expanding.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned that there isn't a lot of recycling and circular economy kind of policies within the municipality and infrastructure to even transport some of the plastic waste and the glass and other kind of valuable waste resources because of the cost of transporting them to an area where there's a buyback center.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see that as a potential opportunity in the long term, maybe with increased infrastructure to expand and create possible local economic job employment opportunities?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I think they can be an opportunity there because most of the months they transport the waste themselves to the landfill site because municipality doesn't have capacity to collect waste all over the places.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: So most of the people they take waste themselves to the landfill site.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: I believe with the increase of pipek centers, maybe also close to the villagers, it will give them a little relief and can create job opportunities because there is waste, but there is no way of transporting waste from there to town, so it will really help.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: And often it's burnt, the waste is burnt, which is also increasing air pollution.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is there any other comments that you feel you'd like to share with us?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe what is in your heart, and how do you feel about going back to the office on Monday?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now that you've been through the two-day training and you understand, you know, the deep layers of complexity, but also maybe a lot of policy changes or a new opportunity to develop just transition policies within the municipality.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel maybe confident that your colleagues would be open, or do you see that this is something maybe it's not yet a hot topic, and there's gonna have to be a lot of motivation and encouragement for people to come on board and create a new vision for the municipality going forward?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, just transition is something that can happen.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that I think we should acknowledge that people won't change the same way, depending on the situations that we are facing.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, most of the people they survive on cranks, so they use mostly firewood to cook because they don't afford electricity rates.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if we have to transition that kind of a situation, which means transition will take longer than in other areas, but we are open to the idea of bringing everyone, especially youth, then we can start working together into uh clean energies and hoping that by next 10 years there will be progress.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, address also your energy poverty, because there isn't energy access.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Never mind energy access to renewable.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: There isn't energy access because the affordability of the electricity from a coal mine is not even on the budget line item.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is a very real issue that people have to face, that we can't all just, you know, transition to renewables in terms of affordability if there's energy poverty within the areas and the villages.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm positive that we can work step to step, then we'll get there one day.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: But we can start fixing small anyana issues, then we all end up uh matching with other cities in terms of our transition.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: You are giving us hope, and we feel your confidence, and we're here to support you going further, and we hope that you'll be joining and tapping into the support from the community of practice and engage and collaborate continuously with other officials in different provinces that are also finding solutions and that might be in the same seat that you are.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you very much for your time, and I hope you have a good weekend.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for the invite.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: A huge thank you to the guests for sharing their expertise, their time, and attending this training.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: We hope you will continue to champion the mandate of greening the economy in a just and equitable way.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And to our listeners, your support means the world.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining the Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies official podcast.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, sustainable growth is not just a goal, but a path to a more resilient and prosperous future.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and connect with us on social media.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, I'm Elise Hutting, your host, and I'm signing off.