Browsing by Author "Ebrahim, Fazal."

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Change and continuity: the development of Florence Nightingale Drive in Westcliff, Chatsworth.
(2018) Ebrahim, Fazal.; Mchunu, Koyi Humphrey.
The rapid transformation of arterial roads into unauthorised economically viable and sustainable local mixed use activity corridors in the apartheid-planned residential townships like Chatsworth, Umlazi, Soweto, Chesterville and Phoenix connected by nodes by residents is becoming difficult for municipalities to manage. These business operate on sites zoned for residential purposes and provides a variety of goods and services within easy reach and at competitive prices comprising of clothing stores, essential services such as attorneys, auto services, tax consultants and specialty stores to residents. These business have created local economic development by creating employment and empowering women. This study demonstrates the rationale of unplanned local economic development on a local activity corridor, using the Florence Nightingale Drive unplanned mixed use local activity corridor and it also shows the innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship of the residents to improve their socio economic status over time without any municipal interventions. Using research methods such as a physical analysis of the study area, a review of the current zoning, land use surveys, interviews, an assessment of the built form and secondary data, it was found that the Florence Nightingale Drive is an unplanned economically viable and sustainable local mixed use activity corridor which has organically grown linearly by private initiative and entrepreneurship connected by a transport node and an urban node. This study investigates the reasons why Florence Nightingale Drive has transformed over time from 1970 into an economically viable and sustainable local activity corridor which has organically grown linearly by private initiative and entrepreneurship based on a physical assessment of the study area with interviews with the residents, business owners and municipal officials from Ethekwini Municipality. These businesses provides residents with easily accessible goods and services at competitive prices and also created and provide employment opportunities to residents within the study area and the broader Chatsworth. As peoples socio economic status changes over time from one generation to the next, the needs of the residents also changes. The results of the investigation of the study area has showed that although the currently zoned for residential uses only, Florence Nightingale Drive has transformed over time over time into an economically viable and sustainable local activity corridor by private initiative which employs an significant number of local residents. It has the characteristics of an activity corridor which is connected by a transport node and an urban node.
A land suitability evaluation for improved subsistence agriculture using GIS : the case study of Nkwezela, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2007) Ebrahim, Fazal.; Ahmed, Fethi B.
Rural farmers in the Nkwezela Area, with an average family size of 10 people, face a number of problems. The crops that are predominantly cultivated in the area, for subsistence (maize, dry beans, sorghum, potatoes, cabbages and turnips) have very low yields compared to the potential yield of the land. Natural resources in the area are increasingly deteriorating. In addition, arable land has shown remarkable signs of soil erosion that may lead to loss of soil fertility. This study evaluates the current land suitability for subsistence agriculture in Nkwezela based on climatic, soil, topographic and crop requirement data collected from different sources. The spatial parameters of the land resources were digitally encoded into a GIS database to create thematic layers of the land resources which was then compared to the crop requirement data of the selected crops grown in Nkwezela namely, maize, sorghum, dry beans, potatoes, cabbages and turnips. A GIS was used to overlay the thematic layers of the resources to select areas that satisfied the crop requirements of the selected crops. The results of the analysis of the land evaluation in the study area showed that the very hot summers, very cold winters together with the high clay content in the soils are the two limiting factors in Nkwezela. The land suitability maps indicate that sorghum is highly suitable in the area with dry beans and maize being relatively suitable. Cabbages are the least the least adapted crop with potatoes and turnips being not suitable due to the high temperatures during the growing season and the very cold winters. In conclusion Nkwezela is in a high rainfall area that is suitable for subsistence agriculture where warm season crops like dry beans, maize and sorghum are used for daily consumption by the community and can be cultivated in a sustainable manner. In addition the correct farming methods, procedures, liming and fertiliser requirements must be implemented, adhered to and maintained in order to improve crop yields in a sustainable manner and to encourage subsistence agriculture by the community.