Overview

The Sekhukhune economy is a curious mixture of overwhelmingly negative features (such as the highest unemployment rate in Limpopo) and unbridled positive opportunities (like the enormous mining potentialwithin the area). Plotting an economic development path therefore requires a careful assessment of the current economic reality in the District.

The structure of the Sekhukhune economy
Conventional wisdom has it that agriculture; mining and tourism are the three leading sectors in the Sekhukhune economy. Official statistics, however, paint a slightly different picture of the District economy being dominated by community services, mining and trade. It must be noted that it is very difficult to find accurate data for the local level in South Africa. Those data-gathering exercises that do exist often yield vastly different accounts of local realities. Most public sector plans and IDPs, however, draw on Stats SA data even whilst recognizing some of its limitations. The table below is drawn from Stats SA data and sets out the main sectoral contributions to Sekhukhune’s Gross Geographic Product (GGP).

Key sectoral contributions to Sekhukhune's GGP (1995 – 2000)
Sector 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Agric. & forestry 11,472 10,828 9,060 11,607 11,295 12,074
Mining 304,975 340,825 385,950 433,274 447,409 510,348
Manufacturing 30,564 35,650 45,420 46,311 52,220 60,532
Elec & water 39,849 46,002 59,635 76,797 84,431 97,098
Construction 10,717 13,416 14,707 13,440 12,938 10,888
Trade & catering 215,203 253,344 284,010 363,923 409,551 450,398
TPT commu.. 50,026 56,029 70,793 74,507 77,737 80,708
Financial buss. 5,081 5,348 5,630 6,255 8,979 9,529
Comm. services 799,430 808,253 861,297 1,192,342 1,291,970 1,361,607
Total 1,467,317 1,569,695 1,736,502 2,218,456 2,396,530 2,593,182
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