ROLE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Year 2018, Volume: 10 Issue: 1, 114 - 128, 01.01.2018

Kgalema Mashamaite Mankolo Lethoko

Abstract

Currently, local governments in South Africa are characterised by and faced
with mammoth challenges of high poverty and unemployment levels, poor or
lack services, stagnant local economies, shortage of skills required to propel
local economic development, lack of administrative capacity and ineffective
implementation of policies. Local governments, particularly local municipalities
in South Africa have an constitutional obligation to play a critical role in
promoting social and economic development in terms of section 152 of
the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996 and the White Paper on
Local Government of 1998, which clearly entrenches developmental duties of
municipalities. Both documents encourage municipalities, through Local
Economic Development (LED), to play a leading role in as far as creating job
opportunities and poverty reduction are concerned. Thus, viable LED
strategies are necessary to unfurl local economies with a view of addressing
societal problems of high unemployment, high poverty levels and lack of access
to basic services in many local communities across the country. The paper
argues that in order for local municipalities to accelerate the creation of jobs,
reduction of poverty, effective service delivery and improve the quality of life among the local people, the LED strategy should be well formulated and
effectively implemented, and local government should assume an active role in
this process. It is in this regard that the paper seeks to examine the role that the
sphere of local government plays in the planning and promotion of the LED in
South Africa’s local municipalities.

Keywords

local economic development, developmental local government, service delivery, local government, planning

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