Small business development and support in rural communities is seen as a key factor in building the community's economy. I hope the church finds this work useful as it strives to help heal and transform the African continent to which it belongs.
Introduction
The research strategy
- The research problem
- The research question
- Sub-problems
- The hypothesis
- The objectives of the study
- The research methodology/design
- The literature review
The purpose of this research is to explore the possible role of the church in building the Tswaing community economy. The implications of the collected data have also been elaborated and the research results have been reported.
Definition of concepts
- Church
- Rural areas
- Adaptive strategies
- Sustainable livelihoods
- Integrated Development Planning
- Community economic development
- Activities, assets and entitlements
- SMMEs: a definition
- Small enterprises
- Medium enterprises
- Micro enterprises
- Survivalist enterprises
- Partnerships in development practice
Adaptive strategies refer to 'the changes and adjustments people make to their livelihood systems to cope with difficult circumstances' (Helmore & Singh 2001:3). Basically, it is what is owner or manager controlled through the shareholders or society.
The organization of the study
It is in this chapter that the importance of the nation-state as an agent of change at national, provincial and local level is explained. This chapter further discusses key fundamental principles that the church should use in development practice as listed in chapter three, as well as learning from and trends, concerns of the research.
Church engagement in development
- God’s nature and mission
- The mandate, nature and mission of the church
- The call of the church to be redeemed from crises
- The cry of the Spirit and our spirit
- The church has a history of developing communities
- The church is being true to its heritage
- The church voices its own concerns and critiques to development
- Have the practical results of development been acceptable?
- Are human beings been affirmed in and through development practice?
- Is our mother earth cared for through development?
- Engaging local communities
The church is also the church of the poor and is among the outcasts, many of whom are found in the churches of two-thirds of the world. Given these crises, the church must partner with others to respond to the cries of the earth and its peoples.
An overview of the Tswaing Community
A brief history of Tswaing
- Settlement patterns
- Land ownership
- Agricultural Development
- Topography
The history of the area must also be placed in the context of apartheid. Other trust lands were acquired under the provision of the Bantu Trust Land Act of 1936.
An overview of selected areas of research
- Atamelang
- Khunwana village
- Manamolela
- Gannalaagte/Vrischgewaagd
With 15% of the total area being mountainous (mainly located in the Ramotshere Moiloa area) and 17% rolling hills. It is alleged that the government confiscated these tractors after 1994 as part of the restructuring programme.
Socio-demographic profiles of the Tswaing Municipality
- Population distribution
- Gender structure
- Age distribution
- Education levels
- Income and poverty situation
The average age of the population in vast areas is less than thirty-five years. In 2006, the distribution of education levels showed that there were high levels of citizens with primary education, accounting for 34% of the total population. Tswaing, in the selected research areas the following educational facilities: 7 combined schools which make up 6% of the total schools; 9 intermediate schools (7%); 22 junior primary schools (18%); 75 primary schools; 10 secondary schools (8%) and 2 special schools (2%).
In terms of personal income, 75% of the population has no income while 10% of the population is classified as having an income between R1 and R800-00. While this is particularly true of rural Tswaing where the majority of the population is self-employed in small-scale agriculture as a livelihood, estimates can be made. The Tswaing IDP document shows that there are 25,197 economically active members, of which 8,602 are unemployed, accounting for 34% of the total population.
Infrastructure and service indicators in Tswaing
- Housing
- Transport infrastructure
- Water and sanitation
- Energy supply
- Telecommunications
- Protection services
What Gcabo (1998:58ff) of the then Ministry of Housing of the North West Province said about housing problems in rural areas is still true. In practice, most of the inhabitants of the researched area do not have basic resources. The modes of transport to work and school in the region are as follows: bicycles, buses, cars, taxis/minibuses, motorbikes and trains.
The above discussion suggests that the government over the years, firstly, has not taken seriously the plight of the rural poor. There is truth in the saying attributed to one of the United States Federal Highway Administrators that “it was not wealth that made good roads in America. This means that a larger part of the communities in question must depend on rainwater or spring and river water.
Identifying the community assets in Tswaing
Local institutions consist of schools and childcare facilities, police stations and other institutions representing protection, security and legal services, parks and other recreational facilities, hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities, libraries and other means of communication, and businesses including financial institutions such as banks and other public institutions, community halls. There is one hospital in Gelukspan, a day hospital in Atamelang, residential clinics in Khunwana Gannalaagte/Vrischgewaagd and other villages and mobile clinics serving villages that do not have clinics. A well-equipped library can be found in Atamelang Municipality, next to the Home Affairs Department and Regional Department of Education Offices.
It is clear that small business development is not one of their priorities at this stage. Small business development is considered one of the ways to combat poverty and a job creation enterprise. In light of the above discussion, it becomes crucial to investigate how small business development and support can be improved, if possible, to build the economy of Tswaing.
Justification of SMME development by other researchers
The discussion in this chapter revealed that Tswaing as a municipality emerged at the end of the apartheid era when new governmental boundaries were drawn. The area itself is predominantly rural in terms of settlement patterns; in a state-owned land;. This chapter also showed that there are high levels of semi-literacy, with the population dominated by younger people aged 34 and under.
We noted that, in terms of job creation strategies, the development of small businesses would therefore have to accommodate this group. Having discussed the social context of Tswaing in chapter three, we recognize that a favorable environment is necessary for SMEs to flourish. Chapter four will then deal with the government's policy framework for strategies for the development and promotion of SMEs at the national, provincial and local levels.
Government Policy Framework on strategies for development
- South African National Government small business support strategy: a policy
- National Government Legislation
- North West Provincial Government: a policy review
- The Context: The small business situation in the North West Province
- Provincial SMME development and support strategy
- Tswaing Local Municipality: policy
- Impact of National and Provincial Government policies on Tswaing Local
At the national government level, twelve elements were identified as a supportive framework for SMEs in the White Paper on the National Strategy for the Promotion of Small Business in South Africa in 1995. The small business sector has a narrow base, suggesting that 84% of all small businesses are shops. Some of these included a 1996 strategic workshop that identified small business development as the first priority to receive attention in the government's Economic Development Forum (1998:2).
The province consulted with various agencies involved in small business development through conferences and Imbizos (meetings). The second example would be facilitating financing for small business development, another intervention that the provincial government sought to achieve. As a result of this gap, although the province reflects the national government's intention in its provincial SME policy, Tswaing does not have a small business development policy.
An overview of the SMME situation in Tswaing
Research Methodology
The choice of participants was not intended to create a statistically representative sample, but was a random sample representing a cross-section of the various businesses in the area. Third, discussions were held with members of the Methodist Church in Atamelang, officials of the now defunct Atamelang Resource Centre, the police, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Security, successful black smallholder farmers, as well as the head of the SMME counter. at the provincial office in Mafikeng. This research method was chosen for its ability to allow interviewees to talk freely about various aspects of life in Tswaing, as well as to gain in-depth information about SMMEs in the North West Province.
This was possible because the researcher lived and worked in the communities where research was conducted. Fourth, documentary research was also conducted because the researcher wanted to explore existing sources on the topic of SMMEs. For this purpose, official statistics were examined, speeches, books, magazines, newspaper articles, published and unpublished articles were read, and the Internet was surfed for new information because the research period was longer.
Research findings: types of businesses
- Transport, storage and communication
- Agriculture
- Retail/Trade
- Caterers
- Community and other
- Manufacturing
Three out of the thirteen people in this sector worked in the car dealership and repair shop. Some of the responsibilities of the church in the field of development were highlighted in the second chapter. In the broader context of the above roles, we will consider the role of the church in the development of a small economy.
In the following paragraphs, we discuss some of the roles that the agency could perform. In Tswaing's case, such agencies would be partners who would train company members. The Church and Small Business Development: A Framework for Strategically Engaging the Church in Small Business Development.
Learnings, trends, weaknesses and concerns
- Trends in the SMME sector
- Weaknesses/challenges faced by SMMEs in Tswaing
- High Municipal costs
- Lack of access to credit facilities
- Outflow of capital
- Lack of training in business administration, management and technical skills
- High cost of equipment
- Competition with unlicensed traders
- Difficulty in disciplining family members
- Lack of access to markets
Concerns
- Absence of small scale rural industries
- Limited Black Commercial farming
- Collapse of co-operatives
- Absence of local finance facilities
- Absence of local SMME support systems
The Role of the development agency could be responsible for establishing a development desk for various small business sectors. A Strategy that was used by the researcher to mobilize external resources whilst serving at the Diepsloot Methodist church (a peri- urban informal settlement in Fourways, Gauteng) together with the members of the church would be adapted and replicated. Management of the construction company would be done according to rules and regulations that govern establishment of companies.
Essentially, the role of the church would be to initiate the project, that is, to be directly involved in practical ways. It was further concluded that the possible role of the church is also that of primarily supporting existing KMMOs by providing a development agency that is currently not available in the immediate area. We therefore come to the conclusion that building the rural economy through the development and support of KMMOs is not an option, but a must for the church.
Comparison of current research findings with previous findings
Church and small business: building the community economy
- Advocacy and policy engagement at the National, Provincial and
- National Government
- Provincial Government
- Local Government
- Promotion of small business development and support in Tswaing
- Creation of alternative credit institutions
- Strengthening/multiplying savings clubs
- Church sets up its own project: boosting the local economy
- Building on existing community strengths
- Participation
- Formation of partnerships
- Sustainability
- The process of developing the construction company
- Procurement strategy
The church will challenge the government to consider collaborating with churches to facilitate the establishment of some of the services, such as the establishment of a local service center. In terms of capacity building, the church will need to join other stakeholders in building an integrated development plan for 2012-2016. The other area in which the church could challenge the local government would be education in rural areas.
The church will therefore learn together with the community to be involved in the financial world in a way that will grow the local economy. The church will need to ask itself several questions in line with an asset-based approach. In retrospect, the church could have formed other partnerships with the police, social workers and educators, which would have been done in Tswaing.
Conclusion
The exit strategy should be decided at the very beginning of the cooperation with the local community and other stakeholders. This determination on the part of the church could motivate the church to mobilize all available resources to form a critical mass of the business movement in Tswaing. The purpose of the church is not to deny the existence of challenges, but to accept such challenges and prepare them to build the economy of the community.
Report prepared for the Executive Vice-President and the Inter-ministerial Committee on Poverty and Inequality: a summary report. Prosperity, Poverty, and the Word of God: An Interdisciplinary Study Program from the Institute of Missiology. Which of the following services or facilities do you still need and are willing to pay for.
The sample of the questionnaire
Map of Tswaing
Map of Atamelang
Photo: graduation ceremony of community members
