The City of Polokwane is one of my favorite thought places in SA. One reason is because it is and has been a key interface between urban and rural fabrics– hyper-wealth and agrarian societies. It is also a difficult place to face, because it serves as the primary shopping and to some degree recreation opportunities within 80km or so. Limpopo as a province is confronted with some of the lowest income households, and massive degrees of underutilized infrastructure and development opportunities. Anyway, in 2013, in the first company I was part of, one of the first places I reflected on was Polokwane. It’s growth was so fast, sprawling, evolving and reflecting new business, new wealth, and massive opportunities for public and non-motorized transport. While Polokwane gears up for the next Integrated Transport Plan, it is also confronted with the Bus Rapid Transit scheme as an opportunity too. We must prevent traffic congestion in our towns and cities, while encouraging significant investment in rail transport and air transportation. (I’ll talk about Polokwane’s Train Station and Airport on separate occasions). This photo, is an early note in which a broad expectation is that the peak traffic may be longer, and tougher to get out of where ever we live, love and build.
Hlulani 