Brainstorming: by the team
From 29 Aug to 1 Sep 2022, the entire WopedyP team met in Mankweng, with the meeting being hosted by Prof Ramudzuli and Izelque Botha at the University of Limpopo. After eight or ten months into the project, it was time for an internal meeting to discuss the progress made so far, to identify knowledge gaps and to look ahead. Our four postgrad students presented their research outline and the first results: Melon pointed to a stronger need of looking into the diversification of women’s livelihoods in the area. Azile presented first findings based on the questionnaires in regard to addresses, accessibility and mobility. Yajna reported on the complications and challenges of making sense of ‘sense of place’ based on a thorough literature study. And Deepthi summarized her land use/cover ground truthing efforts so far and the arising conceptual frameworks for investigating land-based livelihood and settlement development based on satellite imagery. Very informative was the overview by Prof Serena Coetzee on how planning was handled in South Africa and the new SPLUMA approach. Having had that much input and having taken time throughout for questions and clarifications in lively discussions, the group was well prepared for a brainstorming session to identify the still existing gaps. These were collected with the plan to tackle them in the foreseen focus group discussions. Other activities included an exchange on likely publications arising from the project as well as a visit each to the Polokwane Local Municipality and the Tribal Authority Gha-Mothapo. For both, many questions had been prepared in advance. Finally, we took the chance to also accommodate a project steering committee meeting while in Mankweng. And for some of us, the trip also provided the opportunity to collect more field data.