scholarly journals Probing the efficacy of local economic development in South African Municipalities: A case of POLOKWANE local municipality

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
CM Mashabela ◽  

The government of South Africa adopted Local Economic Development (LED) as part of its development policy in its quest for an inclusive economic development and growth. LED is intended to create a conducive environment for an inclusive local economy. However, unemployment and poverty rates are high in local communities with some SMMEs struggling to secure funding. Although municipalities do not create jobs directly through LED, they should, however, ensure that strategies implemented talk to inclusive economic growth, particularly the mitigation of unemployment and poverty rates. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the efficacy of LED in South African municipalities. The paper aims to evaluate and analyse the impact of implementing LED in South Africa. The quantitative research approach was adopted, and questionnaires were utilised to collect primary data. The paper found that LED in South Africa produces desired results at a low rate in that only a small fraction of the participants agrees that the municipality facilitates funding for SMMEs; only a small fraction of the participants is of the view that LED units provide adequate infrastructure and create industries. Moreover, the paper found that only a fraction of the participants is able to create job opportunities. Consequently, the paper recommends that municipalities should facilitate SMMEs funding, provide adequate infrastructure, develop industries and design LED strategies that enhance job creation. The paper argues that effective measures of implementing LED will enhance LED impact rate and fast track the prospects of inclusive economic growth in South African municipalities.

Author(s):  
Pontso Chomane ◽  
Maréve I. Biljohn

Background: Approaches such as social innovation were visible during many of the responses that public-sector organisations, civil society, communities, and the private sector collaboratively implemented to address the issues of unemployment and the impact of economic challenges during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The use of social innovation as an approach to local economic development by South African municipalities, however, reveals a research gap in terms of a conceptual framework for enabling such use.Aim: This article explores a conceptual framework for using social innovation as an approach to local economic development by South African municipalities.Setting: Conventional top-down local economic development approaches by South African municipalities have become inadequate for dealing with contemporary local economic development challenges. Such inadequacy calls for municipalities to rethink and adapt their approach to dealing with economic challenges and to developing and implementing their local economic development strategies.Methods: Through an interpretivist paradigm, the adopted methodology is underpinned by a qualitative research approach. Content analysis was performed of relevant research documents concerning social innovation and local economic development. From this content analysis, a conceptual framework was developed through an inductive approach.Results: The findings illustrate that the praxis for using this conceptual framework is vested in the interconnected nature of its attributes, antecedents, and consequences, which will contribute to the achievement of certain local economic development outcomes.Conclusion: This article suggests that a conceptual framework could contribute to stimulating future research concerning the phenomenon and can serve as an impetus and direction for research inquiry.


Author(s):  
Herdiana Dyah Susanti ◽  
Dian Arief Pradana ◽  
Endang Suprihatin

Coronavirus new which caused the outbreak of pneumonia and caused the closure of tourist destinations and caused many SMEs products to be returned by the souvenir center and SMEs production stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic. Banyuwangi Regency has also experienced the closure of tourist destinations starting March 2020 and has an impact on SMEs in Banyuwangi Regency, one of which is Ratu Manis SMEs. After the closure of tourist attractions, 70% of Ratu Manis SMEs products that were entrusted to the souvenir center and tourist attractions were returned. The number of SMEs Ratu Manis production has also decreased. Many exhibition events at every festival held in Banyuwangi Regency have been canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Ratu Manis SMEs is trying to rise from the impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic through synergy from various parties with the help of the government, academics, media and the community using the pentahelix approach. The research approach used in this research is descriptive research. The data sources used in this study are secondary and primary data sources. The data were collected using data collection techniques, namely observation and interviews with the source triangulation strategy for data validity. With penta helix synergy of industry, government, academia, media and the community sweet queen SMEs can survive to face the pandemic covid-19 and may even improve the quality of the products and sales turnover also increased from 20 kg to 40 kg per day.


Author(s):  
Fauziah Nasution

<p><strong><em>Introduction:</em></strong> <em>The picture message policy on cigarette packets is regulated in Permenkes No. 28 of 2013 concerning the Inclusion of Warnings and Health Information on Tobacco Product Packaging. The purpose of the inclusion of pictorial health warnings (PKB) on cigarette packs is to prevent adolescents from smoking. By looking at the frightening picture on PKB, it hoped that young smokers would be motivated to quit smoking</em><em>. <strong>Method</strong>: This study used a quantitative research approach with a cross-sectional design (cross-sectional) using primary data, this research conducted in Medan City. During January - June 2019. The population in this study were adolescents aged 18-23 years. The sample of this study was 215 teenagers. Data analysis used cross-tabulation descriptive analysis than presented in the form of a frequency distribution table using SPSS 22. <strong>Results</strong>: The results of this study indicate that the majority of respondents have smoking behaviour in the 19-20 year age group. The majority of respondents stated that they smoke 1-5 cigarettes a day. Teens who stated that they were not afraid of the impact of picture messages on cigarette packs had a 3,939 times risk of smoking compared to adolescents who expressed fear of the impact of picture messages on cigarette packs <strong>Conclusion</strong>: It hoped that the government could expand the picture message on cigarette packets to increase the desire to quit smoking and reduce the number of smokers in Indonesia. The image message on cigarette packs must be enlarged in order to reduce smoking behaviour in adolescents.</em></p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 46-65
Author(s):  
Bill Freund ◽  
Vishnu Padayachee

This chapter addresses the unfolding economic history of South Africa in the apartheid era (1948–94). The chapter is organized according to a periodization with 1971–73 as a marker of the break, and along specific thematic lines. These include a discussion of the way in which this history has been studied and through what theoretical lenses, before engaging with the main issues, including the impact of Afrikaner nationalism on economic growth, the way in which the minerals energy sector, which dominated early perspectives of South African economic history and perspectives, is impacted in this era of National Party rule. An analysis of the role of one major corporation (Anglo American Corporation) in shaping this economic history is followed by an assessment of the impact of the global and local crisis after c.1970 on the South African economy. An abiding theme is that of race and economic development and the way in which the impact of this key relationship of apartheid South Africa on economic growth has been studied.


2018 ◽  
Vol 114 (5/6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daan Toerien

Statistically significant Pareto-like log-log rank-size distributions were recorded for population and enterprise agglomeration in the towns of three different regions of South Africa, and are indicative of skewed distributions of population and enterprise numbers in regional towns. There were no distinct differences between groups of towns of regions from different parts of the country. However, the regional agglomerations differed from those of groups of towns randomly selected from a database. Regions, therefore, appear to have some uniqueness regarding such agglomerations. The identification of Zipf-like links between population and enterprise growth in regional towns still does not fully explain why some towns grow large and others stay small and there is a need to further explore these issues. The extreme skewness in population and enterprise numbers of different towns’ distributions should, however, be considered in local economic development planning and execution.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. K. Pooe

AbstractThis paper explores how South Africa despite having one of the most lauded constitutions and legal frameworks in the world has been unable to advance as a developmental state in economic development and institutional building endeavours. The contention of this paper is that the South African government, prioritising law and development, did so at the expense of institutional building for economic development purposes. Law and development is conceptualised in this paper as States prioritising liberal actions such as separation of powers (judiciary, executive and legislature) and human rights. Consequently, this paper is not arguing against some of the tenants characterising the law and development agenda. Rather it asks, did South Africa lose its credentials as a possible developmental state by prioritising law and development initiatives over building developmental state institutions for local economic development purposes in particular? Ultimately, this paper contends that for South Africa to become a functional developmental state it needs to reconsider its constitutional/law and development aspirations, in favour of reconfiguring government institutions to prioritise economic development.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3(J)) ◽  
pp. 60-72
Author(s):  
Nonkululeko Zulu ◽  
Jabulani Nyawo ◽  
Pfano Mashau

In South Africa, with the advent of democracy, the Expanded Public Works Programme was conceived as an employment strategy by government in order to alleviate poverty and promote a better standard of living for marginalised groups, particularly youth and women in South Africa. This is a qualitative exploratory research in which the data was collected through face-to-face interviews with beneficiaries. The researcher utilised the exploratory research in order to explore the effectiveness of the Zibambele Project at the local level, and to see how it creates employment opportunities for marginalised groups. The key focus of the literature review is on local economic development, with special reference to the poverty alleviation strategies as a guideline for economic growth at local levels. The findings show that the government-led programmes that eliminate poverty at the grassroots level as well as creating employment opportunities for marginalised are crucial. Furthermore, the study shows that the government programmes are more needed in order to tackle poverty and also increase local economic development in South Africa.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chin-Hong Puah ◽  
Meng-Chang Jong ◽  
Norazirah Ayob ◽  
Shafinar Ismail

The local and international communities play an important role in the sustainable growth of the Malaysian tourism industry. The principle of sustainable growth in the tourism industry was proposed by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) in 1988. As the tourism industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in Malaysia, the government has poured considerable effort into promoting this industry consistent with the objective of the Economic Transformation Program (ETP) to transform from a resource-based economy to a service-based economy. This study aimed to test the hypothesis of tourism-led growth from Malaysia&rsquo;s perspective. The tourism revenue earned by the government can be used to invest in industry to further promote economic growth in Malaysia. Hence, tourist receipts and capital investment in the tourism industry are important factors that can affect the nation&rsquo;s economic growth. Utilizing Malaysian data from 1995 to 2016, the study employed the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to examine whether the tourism-led growth is valid in this study. Empirical findings indicated that both variables have a significant positive impact on economic growth and the hypothesis of tourism-led growth is accepted in Malaysia.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document