Some development issues in Ciskei ; Development Studies Working Paper, no. 10

Abstract

The territory known as Ciskei - an independent national state - and its de facto residents, known as Ciskeians, are the administrative, organisational and financial responsibility of the Ciskei government. As such, this government plans strategies aimed at promoting development for Ciskeians in its territory. Very broadly, 'development' is understood to mean the improvement of the life chances and living conditions of Ciskeians, and of poorer Ciskeians in particular (Ward, 1980). The Ciskei government, by its very nature, thus sees itself as intimately involved in the creation and implementation of a development strategy focussed on its territory. This paper has three interrelated aims. First, a demographic and socio-economic profile of Ciskei will be presented. This will be attempted by using such generally accepted indicators as trends in population, gross national product, unemployment rates, and per capita income. In addition, three types of classification will be introduced to sharpen this profile. Ciskeian resident communities will be grouped together, on the basis of their location and access to productive activities, into (i) urban communities, (ii) rural villages, and (iii) closer settlements. In the second place, cash- -earning workers will be grouped together, on the basis of their places of residence and of work, into (i) Ciskeian workers, (ii) frontier commuters (Riekert, 1979), and (iii) migrants. Finally, a distinction will be drawn between the income accruing to resident Ciskeian households (i) which is earned within Ciskei itself, and (ii) which is earned outside Ciskei. ; Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)