What to do with our land!!!



Somewhere in the Free State



Recently, I had the opportunity to get out of Joburg to see the countryside and I must say that I’m always amazed by the pure vastness of our country. The city of Joburg is among the most densely populated in the world with people living in tightly packed communities with little space to “breath”. Little wonder that the roads in Joburg are bad, simply due to over-crowding and resultant high volumes of vehicles on the roads, relative to other parts of South Africa.

Yet, as one moves less than 30 kilometres outside of Joburg, in any direction, one is met with vast open fields of land. One can drive very long distances along the highways before one sees any human being’s let along communities. South Africa’s population density is just over 30 people per square kilometer. In comparison, Japan’s density is just over 330 people per square kilometer. However, the record for the most number of people crammed in an area the size of one square kilometer, goes to Macau (+18,000/sq km) and Monaco (+16,000/sq km). In this context, we as South Africans have a lot to be thankful for.

Some of the wealthiest nations in the world have the highest population densities, meaning little free land. This therefore begs the question: are we in South Africa taking full advantage of the abundance of land which we have available to us? My answer is, most definitely not and the challenge is, what more could we be doing with our land!!!