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A Profile on the Matzikama Municipality

 

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The Matzikama Municipality (meaning Place of Water) with vast open spaces has been on a growth phase while  the local economic development unit has identified the exports, agriculture, aquaculture,  energy  and tourism potential of the region as areas to be focused on. Local towns covered by the municipality include Lutzville, Ebenhaezer, Vredendal, Vanrhynsdorp, Doringbaai/Strandfontein and Klawer.

 

 

Geographical Location

Matzikama covers the area of the lower Olifants River Valley with the Atlantic Ocean as the western boundary. The municipality has its offices in Vredendal, the largest town in the region. Other towns with a strong link to the Olifants River are Klawer and Lutzville. Vanrhynsdorp lies close to the Maskam Mountains inland near the N7 to Upington.

 

Business Sectors

Strandfontein is primarily a holiday town and there are many retired folk with guesthouse potential growing annually whilst the municipality owns the resort which is one of the major holiday attractions to the region. Doringbaai is a small fishing village that used to have a flourishing crayfishing industry which operated from the fishing harbour.  Due to depleting crayfish and fishing stock, and the complex fishing quota system, other  subsistence development and SMME opportunities in the form of licenses are being examined to aid growth potential to the region.

 

Abundant water, fertile soil and a cool Atlantic air all combine to give Matzikama a developing diverse agricultural base which is one of the key industries. Hoodia, an appetite suppressant natural plant product, is being cultivated in the area. The Clanwilliam Dam and the Olifants River give rise to irrigation channels thus providing the agricultural sector with intensive vineyards, vegetables and citrus fruit. The growth in the agricultural and mining sectors has contributed to a stimulus growth in trade, services and light industries. Of late the tourism sector has come into a growth phase as well. The physical infrastructure with close proximity to the N7 highway from Cape Town to Windhoek has also contributed to the growth potential and easy access to transportation.

Around the Lutzville area various ore are recovered from heavy mineral sand deposits. Other than agriculture, mining is a predominant activity in the area and many residents here are employed directly or indirectly in the mining industry.

 

 

Main Resources

The Olifants River Valley provides tourists with stunning panoramic views and visitors to the area will be spoilt for choice with a variety of restaurants, wine cellars, luxury accommodation and, in season, three botanical kingdoms converge in the area viz. Nama-Karoo vegetation, Succulents and Cape-Fynbos.

 

 

Matzikama is focussed on constantly improving the disaster management capacities while also maintaining and improving the delivery of formal housing, electricity, water and sanitation, health services and education. Since most of the population are employed in the agricultural sector, education has seen a steady but stable growth. Informal business has also seen growth with the municipality creating opportunities for trading in the informal vendor settlements, establishing informal abattoirs, creating business centres, increased fishing quotas, promoting job creation projects, assisting and the empowerment of small farmers and land redistribution farmers, providing training to SMME development through FET colleges and Seta’s, marketing the municipality to potential investors and the “Buy and Process Locally” campaign.