South Africa’s future growth is going to be constrained as much by water, as the availability of electricity. Sharon Davis tells us more.

The importance of water for economic growth in South Africa, a largely semi-arid country, was recognised as early as the 1960s when the government started an extensive dam building programme on our major rivers to ensure a regular water supply for both agriculture and industry.

Despite these efforts, and in some cases because of them, scientists and researchers have been warning of a looming water shortage for the past 30 years, and continue to do so.

Increased economic activity, more intensive land-use practices and a growth in population have increased the demand for water while simultaneously degrading the resource; adding to pollutant pressure while removing natural storage and filtration systems like wetlands.

It’s no secret that crime in South Africa is rife, leaving us with little choice but to acknowledge that dealing with crime has become a way of life.

In releasing the police’s crime statistics for the 2008/09 financial year recently, Police Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, noted that house robberies had increased by 27 percent, while the 2007 National Victims of Crime Survey found that the number of people who feared being robbed or having someone break into their homes outnumbered those who feared other crimes, including murder and sexual assault.

According to Gareth Newham from the Gauteng Department of Community Safety, Gauteng experiences 51% of South Africa’s residential robberies, with Gauteng residents reporting an average of 20 house robberies a day during the 2007/08 financial year. 

This article appeared in the November 2009 edition of Leadership magazine.

At just over six foot, internationally acclaimed South African conservationist, Lawrence Anthony, casts am imposing figure silhouetted against a darkening bushveld sunset.

Surprisingly soft-spoken for a man who all but single-handedly waded into war-torn Iraq to save lions, bears, tigers and other zoo animals in the capital city of Baghdad, he comes across as a genial and gentle giant, deeply concerned about humanitarian issues, animal welfare and the degradation of our planet.

But you’d be a fool to mistake this humble man of the bush for a softie.

Self-made South African multi-millionaire, Mac van der Merwe, is the antithesis of one’s expectations of a man who has made it big in the hospitality, tourism, and wine industry.

He’s affable and easy to speak to, humble and looks no different from you and I.


The middle son of a poor white South African family, Van der Merwe grew up near Vereeniging just outside Johannesburg, ironically not far from the Riviera on Vaal, one of the five-star properties he now owns. The 61-year-old says the first time he ate out was at the age of 19 or 20, at the restaurant at the Riviera on Vaal. Little did he realise then that he would buy the hotel in December 2003 and turn it into a top class tourist destination.