Research into factors influencing the economic upliftment of the uMhlabuyalingana Municipality.

My sincere appreciat ion and gratitude goes to all the people who with their love and care assisted me in undertaking and concluding this study:-Gratefulness is particu larly given to the fol lowing beings : God Almighty for giving me wisdom to embark on this study, courage to persevere dur ing tiresome times of the study and vision to see the goal before it become s a rea lity.My wife, Nellie, who has been my source of strength.Your belief in me made it possible for this piece of wor k to be comple ted successfully.Thank you for helping me ba lance the fami ly life and stud y time.You are a Sweetheart.My kids, what can I say.Tokyo my son and my inspiration, I will always remember the days when yo u will force yourself to stay awake just to make sure I The post 1994 dispensation brought about the introduction of developme ntal local government whereby municipa lities are duty bound by constitutional clauses to enhance their local economies.The deve lopment paradigm created a new euphoria in distant localities amongst poor and vulnerable rural and urban communities.The establishment of Local Econo mic Development units in virtually all municipa lities was a direct pursuit of local deve lopmental agenda.This study assesses and critiques the little shortcomings of local economic development in the area.An approac h embedded in this study is to examine the role played by var ious stakeholders in local economic development.The concept of local economic development in this study is not viewed in isolation from infrastructura l deve lopment.An intensive invest igation of infrastructura l back logs was undertaken to determine whether the Umhlabuyalingana municipa lity has invested enough towards its economic viability.Through rigorous engagement with the IDP, the researcher was able to ascertain whether there is a synergy between local econo mic development programme s/projects and the integrated deve lopment plan of the municipa lity.The data generated through intensive fieldwork was analyzed and interpreted to g ive impetus t o the discourse of local economic deve lopment.The qual itative findings of the study reveal that local entrepreneurs are still faced with daunting problems and o bstacles in st arting their own businesses.Fun ding and the lac k of support from well establ ished business organizations and political leadership were also cited as the stumbling blocks toward s progression.The results also reveal that development in the area is top down as o pposed to b ottom up and as a result communities do not own decisions.Despite the negat ives, there is significant progress noted in the area of projects that are linked to development which are abundant in the area.Lastly, the quantitative results clearly depict that local economic developme nt has had an adverse effect on comm unities depending on their age, gender, educat ional qual ification and income.