History

The Northern Cape was one of three provinces made out of the Cape Province in 1994, the others being Western Cape to the south and Eastern Cape to the southeast. Politically, it had been dominated since 1994 by the African National Congress (ANC). Ethnic issues are important in the politics of the Northern Cape. For example, it is the site of the Orania settlement, whose leaders have called for a Volkstaat for the Afrikaner people in the province.

The Northern Cape is also the home of over 1,000 San who immigrated from Namibia following the independence of the country; they had served as trackers and scouts for the South African Defence Force during the South African Border War, and feared reprisals from their former foes. They were awarded a settlement in Platfontein in 1999 by the Mandela government.

Known for

The Northern Cape is the largest province in South Africa, covering 31% of the country’s surface area (slightly bigger than Germany). However, the Northern Cape remains the province with the smallest share of the South African population.

The province is noted for its San rock art, diamond diggings, 4X4 safaris and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. It is a vast stretch of semi-desert land. The province is renowned for its spectacular display of spring flowers which, for a short period every year, attracts thousands of tourists.

Sutherland hosts the southern hemisphere’s largest astronomical observatory, the multinational-sponsored Southern African Large Telescope. The Northern Cape is one of two sites to host the Square Kilometre Array radio-telescope (better known as the SKA Project), the largest and most advanced radio telescope in the world.

Among many other benefits, the province’s tourism and hospitality industry is profiting from the project, as scientists and other interested parties are flooding into the town of Carnarvon. Electrical power generation presents an opportunity for greater economic diversification and growth in the province.

Economy

Mining and agriculture are still enormously important sectors for the province, but renewable energy is growing very fast indeed. The number of solar plants that were developed (and delivered on time) in the Northern Cape in the last five years is truly phenomenal.

In the nationally-run process to encourage the private sector to invest in renewable energy, fully 60% of the projects so far approved have been allocated to the Northern Cape. This represents 66% of the nearly R200-billion invested or pledged to date. The Northern Cape is particularly well-suited to solar energy installations and both of the main technologies (photo-voltaic and concentrated solar power or CSP) are being installed all over the province. The towns of Upington and De Aar are seen as possible future hubs for the further development of solar power-related industry.

The Northern Cape is divided into five district municipalities. Each of these districts is suitable for investments in renewable energy, be it wind, solar, hydro or biomass. Many of the districts already have sizable renewable energy plants up and running.