9. Conclusions

The level and depth of poverty in the rural areas of South Africa is now becoming clear with the most recent and comprehensive surveys. They show that women, and women headed households are particularly disadvantaged, and as a result, three quarters of rural children are growing up in poor households. Access to productive resources, to services and to education and training are all poor in rural areas. In addition, there are many reasons why change must come on a broad front to tackle legislation and access to the law, inertia, lack of direction, and lack of experience in service delivery. For rural people, all this will be new, and it will not be easy.

The Government is committed to a major infrastructure development programme in the rural areas of South Africa, to begin to correct the historical backlogs in infrastructure for water delivery, roads, health facilities, schools, and other amenities. This document sets out the ways in which rural people can have an impact on the priorities for the infrastructure development and service delivery in their communities. They will need, among other things, to be part of the decision-making around the level and cost of services.

There is also commitment to provide assistance in many ways that will allow rural people to develop entrepreneurial skills, to promote appropriate markets, and to implement local economic development. There will be a major government effort to create this facilitative environment. It is up to community organisations and many others, including the service NGOs that support them, to take advantage of these opportunities.

There are many sustainability issues that rural people will have to consider to ensure that development really benefits land and people. As more people gain access to resources and opportunities, it will be essential that no group prospers at the cost of entrenching the poverty of others. Rural women, particularly, require assistance to allow them equal access, equal legal standing, and equal control of resources. NGOs and CBOs are assured of an important role in the upliftment of rural people and rural areas.

Finally, the importance of good information to those who want to promote development is stressed, and ways to improve access to information are suggested. Rural people need to understand vulnerability and the potential impact of drought and other disasters to ensure that they have an appropriate early warning system for food and water security, and an appropriate response to different levels of problem. They also need to understand the usefulness of this information when drawing up proposals for government expenditure.

The two RDP processes that are constantly emphasised in this strategy are: The need for rural people to set the agenda through taking active steps to involve themselves in local decision-making through, or with, local government; The accountability of those who draw up proposals for government spending, in service delivery and in infrastructure development, to ensure that funding is well spent through consideration of sustainability, through capacity building of local government and CBOs, and through drawing up and monitoring business plans, based on good information.

While the state is committed to infrastructure development, improvement in services and a facilitative environment for entrepreneurial and local economic development, it is up to rural people to make it work for them.

End Notes

1. Barbara Klugman, Population policy in South Africa: Where to from here? DBSA Policy Working Paper, 31 June 1994
2. Urban Foundation, Income Distribution Model, Johannesburg, 1991.
3. Hans Binswanger. "Agricultural and Rural Development: Painful Lessons", Simon Brand Address delivered to the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa in Pretoria, 1994. This important review is printed in Agrekon, Vol.33, No.4, pp.165-74.
4. Macro-Economic Research Group (MERG), Making Democracy Work, 1993, Johannesburg. MERG reports that "the Manufacturing-Agricultural Complex accounted for 402,000 jobs in 1988, or 28 per cent of total recorded employment in manufacturing, 31 per cent of manufacturing's production, 21 per cent of its capital stock and almost a quarter of manufacturing's contribution to GDP. Moreover, the MAC accounted for 23 per cent of agricultural exports, while absorbing only 9 per cent of manufatruing's imported inputs" (p. 172).
5. Wilsenach & A.A.Ligthelm, "A preliminary evaluation of the new RIDP and its impacts on regional development in South Africa, "Development Southern Africa, 10(3), 1933.
6. The discussion of LED is derived from two documents which are highly recommended: "Local Economic Development", RDP discussion document, 1995, and "Local Economic Development: New Strategies and Practical Policies", Urban Foundation, 1994
7. International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.
8. The Biomass Initiative of the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs is tackling some of these issues. However, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has provided the major thrust in the development of social forestry for energy and the multi-purpose use of trees.
9. A proposed renewable energy implementation agency: to mobilise funds, manage a revolving credit fund, provide project management services, plan projects, handle consumer education and arrange for maintenance services. Women's National Coalition, Interim Research Report, Johannesburg, 1994.
10. Those requiring further detail are referred to the RIIF docuemtn (Phase One Report, September 1995) for a detailed breakdown of cost figures.
11. It is not considered appropriate to estimate capital costs for specific levels of service as has been done for municipal areas, since the unversal provision of 'intermediate' and 'full' service levels is not feasible for rural areas.