An investigation into the role of municipalities in the local economic development of rural communities : a case study of the Itlhabolole waste management and vegetables project and Mmabatho youth development cooperative project in the Mafikeng local municipality

Abstract

In their essence Local Economic Development (LED) and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) were designed to policy options for municipalities to meet their constitutional obligations of enhancing socio-economic development of communities. The LED in Mafikeng Local Municipality (MLM) is designed to enhance socio-economic development of the MLM community through focusing on job creation to fight and alleviate poverty in the municipality. This dissertation reviews the LED policy of the MLM and reviews the two projects which are namely the ltlhabolole Waste Management and Vegetable project and Mmabatho Youth Development Cooperative (MYDC) (car wash) project in the context of the LED policy of the MLM. The dissertation critically analyses the strategies and programmes put in place by the MLM to implement these two initiatives projects. Questions on whether the MLM involves other stakeholders in the planning and implementation of LED and what are the challenges encountered by the MLM in the implementation of its LED projects and whether those projects are sustainable or not, are answered in this dissertation. This dissertation discovers that both the ltlhabolole Waste Management and Vegetable project and Mmabatho Youth Development Cooperative (MYDC) have achieved one of the core objectives of LED which is job creation, despite the fact that only an insignificant number of people are employed in these projects.