ROLE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

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.