Author(s): Nondumiso Radebe, Bulelwa Maphela
Local economic development (LED) is the vehicle that local government uses to shape the future of its communities, simultaneously fighting poverty and inequality. The National Development Plan (NDP) 2030, from which LED is derived as an overarching plan intended to warrant that by 2030 South Africa’s economy could create employment opportunities for its citizens (National Planning Commission, 2011). The study intends to understand the effectiveness of the strategic approach Emakhazeni Local Municipality (ELM) has adopted by examining whether there is a comprehensive, well-structured and integrated approach towards LED. It, further, examined whether there were obstacles within the ELM strategic objectives vision. The study found that the local economy of ELM is highly influenced by frameworks and policies designed by national government. Meyer (2014), Moyo & Mamobolo (2014); Khambule & Mtapuri (2018) assert that legislation, policies and frameworks in South Africa stem from a pro-poor ideology. Pro-poor policies target poor people and are intended to reduce poverty. They argue that the pro-poor strategic approach does not always deliver the required results for LED. The study recommends that the municipality implement a strategic management and the application of a systems model to ensure that inputs are employed effectively to achieve required outputs. Furthermore, collaboration by regional and district localities should be emphasised to achieve effective LED. Lastly, a theoretical model that there are systems that can be adopted to achieve the required LED objective by ELM.