Page 106 - SCAT Rural Voice II - 35 Stories for 35 Years

YOUTH
nelspoort
ADVICE OFFICE AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
Nelspoort is a small rural town about 50km from Beaufort West in the semi-arid desert of the Central Karoo.1 It lies in an abandoned section of the old N1 highway between Beaufort West and Three Sisters on the road from Cape Town to Johannesburg.2 The town was established in the 1800s on the original Nelspoort Estates farm owned by John Molteno, who successfully started a merino sheep farming estate in the area. Molteno subsequently became the first prime minister of the Cape colony.3 The town was also renowned for its TB sanatorium which was located here to take advantage of the dry, clean, fresh air of the Karoo mountains, and provided employment for many local villagers. The closure of the sanatorium in 1970 and the change in the route of the N1 has led to the drastic shrinking of the town’s economy and unemployment soaring. Census 2011 recorded 1 699 inhabitants in Nelspoort, 80,93 % who identified as Coloured and 16% as Black African. The most spoken language is Afrikaans (90.44%) followed by isiXhosa (2%), Sesotho (2%) and English (2%).4
The Nelspoort Advice and Development Office (NADO) was established in 1998 to offer access to justice to the poor communities of Nelspoort and surrounding areas. NADO was part of the Advice Offices of the Central Karoo, Southern Cape and other partner organisations who marched to Constitutional Hill to hand over a petition in solidarity with farm workers who still suffer under illegal evictions and unfair labour practice in spite of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA). The Advice Office with the assistance of SCAT has started a YouthBank to stimulate economic opportunities for young people in the town.
1. Nelspoort Travel Information. (2019.). Retrieved October 12, 2019, from https://www.karoo-information.co.za/routes/ town/175/nelspoort
2. Nelspoort Travel Information. (2019.). Retrieved October 12, 2019, from https://www.karoo-information.co.za/routes/ town/175/nelspoort
3. C. Schoeman: The Historical Karoo: Traces of the Past in South Africa’s Arid Interior. Penguin Random House South Africa. ISBN 1770225684 p.49.
4. Frith, A. (2019). Census 2011: Main Place: Nelspoort. Retrieved October 12, 2019, from census2011.adrianfrith.com website: https://census2011.adrianfrith.com/place/183003
FAST faCts
NaMe: Nelspoort Advice and Development centre
LeD By: Arie Jonkers/Claudia van Staden
MaiN CHaLLeNGes faCeD By tHe CoMMUNity: Unemployment, poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, orphaned and vulnerable children
MaiN aCtiVities: Paralegal services to members of their community and surrounding areas; home based care support programme; orphaned and vulnerable children’s support programmes; feeding scheme for destitute children; job creation projects aDDress: 2 old Nurses Home, Nelspoort
CoNtaCt: Tel: 023 416 1878 / Cell: 076 099 9682
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