Plans are afoot to develop a smart city in the heart of the Sekhukhune District Municipality in Limpopo as part of the Bapedi Royal Kingdom’s ambitions to turn the impoverished area into an economic and investment hub.
The scheme was announced by Ngoako Ramatlhodi, who was appointed as the traditional prime minister of the kingdom late last year.
Ramatlhodi, the first premier of Limpopo, revealed during an exclusive interview with Sunday World at The Ranch Hotel, near Polokwane, that major development projects are set to start between this month and March.
“We have almost everything we need ready to roll up our sleeves. We have vast land, mineral deposits and the required human resources.
“The land on which the people of Sekhukhune dwell is arable, making it suitable for agriculture to flourish,” Ramatlhodi said.
“The minerals found in the region are much sought after worldwide. All that is needed is to strengthen communication between the royal house and mining companies.
“A healthy relationship between us and these mining corporations will pave the way to a sound social labour plan.
“We cannot have a situation where we have mines, but they don’t benefit local communities,” Ramatlhodi said.
The Tjate area where the planned smart city is earmarked to be built was the site where the revered Bapedi king Sekhukhune I lived from 1861 to 1882.
The sprawling countryside in the eastern limb of the Bushveld remains undeveloped despite being surrounded by platinum mines helping themselves to its riches.
Part of the plans to develop Tjate include the establishment of a campus of the Tshwane University of Technology.
“The planned university campus should also focus on studies related to mining because we can’t have mines in our areas but we still lack mining academics,” Ramatlhodi said.
He was in the presence of Queen Manyaku Maria Thulare, whose position as the regent was endorsed by the Limpopo High Court.
The kingdom has been rocked by a succession battle of more than five decades.
In December last year, the Limpopo High Court declared Thulare as the officially recognised acting queen of the Bapedi.
Judge President Moletjie George Phatudi ordered the respondents, who included the Presidency, the office of the premier in Limpopo, and the ministry of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, to appear in court on March 18 and show cause why the order should not be made final.
The court also ordered the government to restore the benefits and allowances attached to the office of the Bapedi kingdom for the administration of the traditional affairs of the kingdom.
Thulare said local youth should be academically empowered.
“We want to see our youth working in the mines, but they must be first armed with the required education.
It will be pointless to have dialogues with mining companies discussing social labour plans while the youth is illiterate when it comes to mining.”
Ramatlhodi said the kingdom has signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese businesspeople to establish a mutual bank.
However, he remained cagey about releasing further details. Ramatlhodi said plans were in place to establish a development fund to sponsor economic programmes.
“We are going to raise billions of rands to fund business projects in the local municipalities,” Ramatlhodi said.
“The idea here is to use dikgoro (traditional councils) as development agencies. These councils are at the coalface of community leadership.”
Thulare said she was pleased with the stability in the royal house after the court venerated her.
“The future of the Bapedi Kingdom looks great. The high court judgement has somehow restored unity in the Royal House. The traditional council is unified, and other local traditional leaders have expressed confidence in us,” she said.
“We have a challenge where some local chiefs derail our discussions with mining companies by negotiating in bad faith. They claim that since some of these mines are in their villages, they can take decisions that only favour them.”
