Inefficiency And Unsustainable Growth In South Africa

South Africa’s growth path has put pressure on the availability of its resources, these resources are intensively consumed daily. Modern South Africa has a lifestyle that is unsustainable. Freshwater reservoirs are constrained, landfilled sites are wastefully running out of airspace, climate change, mining sites are being closed down, food and energy cost inflation. Below are the unsustainable resources and the reasons for their unsustainability:

Water

The current water crisis in South Africa, according to the water organisation, is worse compared to the apartheid times. 2015 was the recent driest year recorded in South Africa. South Africa is facing a water crisis. The department in charge of the water has estimated a 1. 7% shortfall in the water supply by 2025.

Electricity

Electricity has become a daily necessity in our lives, hence it is counted as one of the resources that are unsustainable in this country. Over the past few years, we have experienced load shedding and it is due to the difference in the Eskom’s power supply and demand of the consumers. This is the last resort that Eskom made to prevent a national blackout. Eskom claims that load shedding is due to overloading of transformers, theft, vandalism and illegal connections.

Food

Due to the change in the climate, it is hard to produce food because there are many draught incidents occurring in wet areas. Nine years ago, we did not experience many draught or dry seasons compared to now. There are a lot of things that are happening that provide enough proof that we are experiencing draught, for example, Cape Town and some wetlands in South Africa going dry. Due to the climate change, food now is more expensive as it is becoming a scarce commodity, which means some people cannot even afford to buy food.

Population

The population from 1971 to 1980 increased by approximately 5. 9 million, whereas, from 2009 to 2018 the population has increased by approximately 7. 7 million. 3 decades ago, the population of South Africa increased slowly but in the last 9 years, it increased rapidly.

Minerals

South Africa is known for its richness in a variety of minerals. The mining sector of South Africa forms the core of the South African economy and the country is the world’s largest gold, platinum and chromium producer. The gold production rate reached its peak in the 1970’s and has now declined, this is due to several mining sites that have been closed down because they became unprofitable and outdated technology. In 2014, a quick fact was released on Statistics South Africa that if the country continued to produce gold at the rate it was then, its gold reserves would exhaust in 39 years. For the platinum and coal reserves, the estimated years were 335 and 256 respectively.

An announcement was made that the South African President, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa signed a deal with China to build a new 4, 600-megawatt coal power station in Limpopo, which will be used by the Chinese for their industrial park. More coal power stations means more use of resources. Fossil fuel use is non-renewable.

The Environment

South Africa’s ecological footprint has increased, the growth rate has put the environment under great pressure, the environment is constantly compromised for development and to satisfy the country’s need and wants. South Africa’s interaction with the environment has caused a loss in biodiversity due to factors such as pollution, deforestation and soil erosion. Therefore, our modern society has a life style that is not entirely sustainable, the growing population requires an excessive amount of finished products, resources are thus over-utilized and there is over-industrialization. The national development plan (2030 vision) proposes to increase South Africa’s irrigated land by more than 50%. At a certain point, there will not be enough resources for future growth or even for everyone in it. The intensive use of resources is unsustainable.

South Africa’s Inefficiency

Spatial change is basic for urban communities to end up more gainful, comprehensive and reasonable. South African urban communities and cities are wasteful because of the blend of the politically-sanctioned racial segregation heritage (apartheid legacy), and post-1994 advancements that kept on finding financed or subsidized housing and poorer populaces in peripheral regions. Issues of settlement (land access and housing) and transportation require short and long-term methodologies to address spatial inefficiency and rejection.

Any extra employment that may emerge in supposed green industries would likewise be set against the potential occupation misfortunes in the mining business as costlier energy constrains the division’s activities. The file furthermore includes the manner in which that the country’s confined water resources will accept a section in obliging an old news improvement heading. South Africa is the 30th driest country on the planet and the intensity of South Africa’s water use, at 31% of the available resource, is high. The NPC cautions that, once water use approaches 40% of ordinary yearly availability, South Africa will go up against a “legitimate” water basic. In general, the report digs into eight different difficulties, while including inequality, unemployment, and poverty, and also the low quality of training for most of the black youth as the two central concerns confronting the nation. Different issues noted incorporate poorly located, lacking and poorly looking after infrastructures, spatial issues that minimize poor people, a debilitated general well-being system, the uneven execution of the general population benefit, the part of debasement in undermining administration conveyance and State authenticity and proceeded with the societal division. The world’s population in 1800 was 1 billion, including all of the people’s history to achieve that check. Just two centuries later, the worldwide populace was 6 billion, half of which lives in urban areas. The effect that this populace increase has had on the earth has been similarly as striking, as observed by changes in ozone-depleting substance emanations, soil erosion and the extinction of the species.

Nature holds at present contain around 10% of the land zone all around, however, most are small positions of the lands, disengaged from different reserves and subject to human pressure. Population estimate is the important vital factor in estimating the natural effect. Different quantities in this condition are level of wealth estimated as utilization per individual and unit of utilization, reflected in the innovations used to supply power or energy, food, and different assets or resources. The consolidated impacts of population development, utilization, abuse, wastage and abuse of assets have stressed the limitations of the earth to maintain life. That is the reason the investigation and control of the human population are important today.