African Entrepreneurship Record

In short, the shortcomings and weaknesses of these regions are too prominent, and the overall conditions are far inferior to the Great Lakes Region.

Therefore, the Great Lakes Region will be one of the key areas for development during the fourth and fifth plans of East Africa. This has always been a pattern of economic development in East Africa, from the initial eastern coastal area, to the Westward Movement’s development of the central region, and finally to the new western development.

Now it is finally the turn of the Great Lakes Region, which is considered to be a veteran area in East Africa, given that its incorporation into the East African territory occurred relatively early in history.

Having spoken about the Great Lakes Region, Ernst began to shift the discussion to the south, which can essentially be understood as South Africa. However, due to the presence of the United Kingdom’s South African colony, it is more accurate to refer to it as the southern region.

"Over the past two decades, our development of the southern region has been conservative, given that the history of its integration into our country is relatively short, and it initially faced enormous defense pressures," said Ernst.

The history of the complete integration of the southern region, especially the northeastern part of the South African Plateau, into East Africa is just over twenty years, and at the time when East Africa obtained the South African Plateau region, the recently defeated British government was not an entity to be trifled with.

Therefore, East Africa has never fully committed to developing the south. After all, the British, who had lost the South African war, were hardly at ease, and a large-scale development of the former South African mineral resources by East Africa might truly provoke the British.

After all, the gold resources alone from the South African Plateau would be enough to make any country in this era envious, and the other mineral resources of South Africa are no less attractive than those of any other country in the world.

At the time, the East African government could not guarantee that the British government would not stage a comeback, and the south was adjacent to the border, with only a single Orange River separating the two countries. A war breaking out again would definitely not be good news for East Africa at that time.

Indeed, the reality has been quite similar. The development over these years in areas like New Hamburg Port City and Maputo has already been enough to make the British envious.

Although this was mainly a result of East Africa’s own efforts, the British might not perceive it this way. East Africa’s development of Africa has provided immense stimulation and inspiration to European countries.

This also intensified the competition for the West African region among European and American countries in the early 20th century, but this intense process was ultimately interrupted by World War I.

Ernst said: "Now that the United Kingdom is no longer our threat, the defense pressure in the southern region has greatly diminished, so the development of the agricultural and industrial resources in the southern region can once again be prioritized, especially accelerating the construction in the three inland provinces of Heixinggen, Orange, and Baden."

The development of the southern region by East Africa has not been absent, but past industrial investments were concentrated in the coastal areas, leading to the growth of major cities like New Hamburg Port City, Maputo City, and Bela City.

Although the economy of Pingyuan Province, also part of the southern coast, may not seem impressive, it is still far stronger than the southern inland areas, and Pingyuan Province is positioned as an agricultural province within East Africa.

Even the economy of Xinxiang city, the capital of Pingyuan Province, far exceeds that of the three inland provincial capitals. It must be noted that at the end of the South African war, Xinxiang’s predecessor, Shao Kui, was just a small colonial town, while at the time, the capital of Heixinggen Province was the former capital of the Transvaal Republic, and the capital of Orange Province was the former capital of the Orange Free State.

These areas that once served as the capitals of the Boer could boast far better foundational conditions than Xinxiang City, yet in just twenty short years, they have been left behind by Xinxiang City, which could be described as a twist of fate.

Thus, Ernst said, "By building new industrial cities such as Otto City (Pretoria), Bloemfontein City, Gaborone City, Kimberley City, and Apington City, we can revitalize the southern inland economy."

"Establish a series of thermal power and hydropower bases, modern agricultural production bases, actively develop mineral resources, and establish a batch of energy, mineral, and technology-oriented enterprises."

Undoubtedly, the foundational conditions of the northeastern part of the South African Plateau are superb, especially with the local energy resources, namely abundant coal resources.

Therefore, developing local thermal power resources is an important objective, as thermal power currently occupies a significant position in East Africa’s energy mix, and the hydropower resources of the south are also relatively abundant, although concentrated in the Drakensberg region, which is in the coastal area.

East Africa’s energy construction in the south gives equal importance to both thermal power and hydropower, which is entirely different from the Great Lakes Region due to its enormous hydropower potential and severe lack of coal resources.

The south is different, with abundant coal resources, and while its hydropower potential is also considerable, it is constrained by climatic factors and cannot entirely replace thermal power generation.

Especially in the inland areas, the climate is very arid with small and unstable river flows, leading to distinctly different energy development paths for the two regions.

In fact, East Africa’s development of the southern region, especially the southern inland, lacks authenticity. Although Ernst said a lot, the tangible benefits to the area are not many.

This differs significantly from the development of the Great Lakes Region, which includes the concept of a Great Lakes economic belt, whereas in the southern region, Ernst only mentioned a few cities.

This suggests that East Africa’s economic and industrial investment in the southern inland region will be concentrated at a few points rather than spread across an area.

Of course, this is also related to the climate conditions of the South African Plateau. As mentioned before, the southern inland region suffers from water scarcity, and industrial development evidently cannot do without an ample supply of water resources.

Therefore, even if Ernst were to fully develop the southern inland, the eventual industrial growth and urban development would still be constrained by this crucial factor of insufficient water resources.

Moreover, Ernst places great importance on the agriculture of the southern region, specifically mentioning plans to transform it into a significant modern agricultural production base for East Africa in the blueprint.

Though relatively water-scarce, it is undeniable that the agricultural conditions of the former South Africa were exceptional among many African countries; the former South African Republic utilized local natural conditions to establish some of Africa’s finest farms and ranches.

During agricultural development, vast amounts of water resources are usually consumed, coupled with the water-intensive nature of mining activities, which further means that the development of inland southern cities will face greater pressure on water sources. Therefore, not expanding the scale of industry too much could actually be beneficial for local cities and ecosystems.

In doing so, East Africa’s plan for the southern inland region somewhat resembles a combination of the northeastern and northwestern collectives from the 21st century Far East Empire in the previous world.

There’s a dual role: one involves farming, and the other is responsible for supplying minerals and energy. Of course, East Africa’s approach to farming is clearly quite different, as Ernst previously mentioned, aiming to establish a modern agricultural production base. This means that local agricultural development is likely to follow the prior South African approach, incorporating full mechanization, intensification, and large-scale farming, among other methods.

However, the population in the southern inland of East Africa is relatively less compared to other parts of East Africa, with more abundant mineral resources and a more concentrated population distribution.

This implies that the future living standards and income levels for the southern inland of East Africa will not be too poor, and in fact, it holds more potential than the Great Lakes Region as a whole.

Furthermore, the East African south also includes the eastern coastal areas, where areas like Bela, Maputo, and New Hamburg Port already have leading economic and industrial strengths in East Africa, and they start from a stronger position than the Great Lakes Region, which has been stagnating in recent years.

In contrast, the Great Lakes Region has only two major cities in the east - Mombasa and Nairobi, with only one outlet to the sea in Mombasa, which is relatively far from the coastline and less resource-rich than the south.

Therefore, even though policies are more favorable towards the Great Lakes Region, Ernst is actually more optimistic about the economic and industrial development in the southern region.

Ernst and the East African government are naturally considering the overall East African economic development: taking advantage of East Africa’s currently robust economic growth to pay more attention to areas where economic development lags and foundational conditions are poor.

And without a doubt, the north is the area with the worst economy in East Africa, and it can be said to be comprehensively lagging behind in terms of population, cities, industry, resources, and all other aspects compared to other regions of East Africa.