Sean McLaughlin – A peek into SA’s possible future: Parallel towns

Key Topics:

  • Rise of self-sufficient, off-grid communities in South Africa
  • Innovation in renewable energy and sports science in revitalized towns
  • Entrepreneurs transforming abandoned villages into thriving hubs

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By Sean McLaughlin*

South Africa is well-known for its ‘gated communities’.

Foreigners do not understand the imperatives for them – safe havens a world away from a government that is often dysfunctional, detrimental and predatory. These communities include stunning golf estates in the tropical air of northern Durban, the walled town of Steyn City in the highveld, or retirement communities in the Western Cape. Or it may simply be the residents taking extra security measures around a few streets.

A group of houses with solar panels on the roof

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Image generated by the Author using OpenAI

All is not gloomy about these ‘Citadels’. A sense of community develops through residents’ forums, as dwellers can leave their motorbikes in the driveway overnight.SA is already far down the road of autonomous enclaves. 

Can these be taken to another level? 

SA’s development model – Off-grid villages, research hubs

Permit me some futurology with synthetic names and places.

In 2027, South African born entrepreneur Tiaan Van Zyl returned from the United States inspired by a trip to the west coast. 

On the road into Port Nolloth from the north, he stopped in the small town of Klipdoringfontein. Noticing it small, quaint, and depopulated, he returned one year later and bought the entire village.

Many at the time asked why a wealthy dollar billionaire would revamp 30 empty houses in a hamlet in the Northern Cape?

Teams of construction workers began bottom-up renovations including expanded polystyrene insulation and aluminium casement windows.

Four boreholes were installed and interconnected via an internal water piping system.

Abundant water had Van Zyl install sprinkle rugby pitches and build world class sports facilities in gyms, pools and saunas. 

A field with water sprinklers spraying out of it

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Image generated by the Author using OpenAI

Leading sports scientists were known to have spent significant time there with the Springbok national squad training camp in 2030. The secrets developed will come out in time with the 5 million data points per athlete per day collected and analysed in the trailblazing 35-screen ‘control room’.

Security companies similarly broke barriers in advanced image recognition technology from the subtle fence around the town’s periphery. 

The machine learning models used by the sports science team and security research teams are driven by micro-data centres. Those are in turn powered by off-grid, micro-wind turbines. 

Abundant sunshine allowed for a backup solar park installed three kilometres out of the town which was all connected via a microgrid.

Blustery winds strong sun has given rise to other industries setting up in the Northern Cape with onsite power generation, sheltered from the sky-high power prices of the early 2030s.

Klipdoringfontein has attracted researchers from all over the world who claim to be on the cusp of the breakthrough in battery storage.

A solar panels and wind turbines in a desert

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Image generated by the Author using OpenAI

Alternative council

Van Zyl created a satellite council of five, including three life-long residents of the village returning from Cape Town, and two emigrees returning from the prohibitively costly Australia.

The ‘Official Municipality’ of Richtersveld elected in 2026 was most agnostic about the project. Some councillors were more encouraging than others. Van Zyl was known to push the boundaries of an SA government that remained weak and absent. The worst that would happen is that a councillor would visit and show disapproval in a newspaper.

Yet the new council elected from the 2031 Local Government Elections could not have been more helpful to the community.

The town is growing steadily with talk of an airstrip.

It employs 83 people directly from all walks of life in a myriad of jobs. It has the support of SA’s many self-sufficiency, transparency and co-governance groups. 

Forward

In 2017, I spent a period in a village in Southern Italy. Almost entirely abandoned, it was brought back to life with refugee upskilling projects in construction to refurbish decrepit housing.

This was one of many. In others, German entrepreneurs were buying entire villages for similar purposes.

In SA, such a concept is not far away, as self-sufficient resorts, lifestyle villages, and compounds become increasingly common.

As SA urbanises, small villages may become more deserted. This is how they can breathe vitality again, alleviating strain on urban centres.

In the case of the Dr Beyers Naudé Municipality, in the western part of the Eastern Cape. It is a merger of three smaller councils, including one called Baviaans. In 2011, the DA won a majority in what was its last sitting with a minuscule 3,600 votes on each ballot.

That is not far off the boards of already-existing residents’ committees in SA.

Such sidestepping communities give flashes of what SA could be with willing investors, entrepreneurs, space and a favourable climate.

As SA’s government retreats and hardship breeds innovation, autonomous villages can forge a new reality.

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*Seán McLaughlin is an independent Political Scientist and Data Analyst. He can be reached on and LinkedIn.
Previously, he has worked for data and news providers Wood Mackenzie and Acuris. He holds a degree in Arabic and International Relations from the University of St Andrews, as well as a degree in Data Science for Business, from the University of Stirling.

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