Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / The study focused on the Local Economic Development (LED) challenges facing the local government in Limpopo Province. The specific study area was Motumo Trading Post located in Molemole Local Municipality. Molemole Local Municipality is one of the five municipalities in the Capricorn District Municipality. The study was qualitative in nature and included some elements of quantitative research in the form of numbers, graphs and tables and concentrated on the functionality of the Motumo Trading Post project. The respondents in this study were the community members of Matoks (known as Botlokwa in Sepedi), the Councillors of Molemole Municipality, managers of both Molemole local Municipality and Capricorn District Municipality, the traditional leaders and mayors of Molemole Local Municipality and Capricorn District Municipality. The study indicates that the local government, through municipalities is faced with challenges of bringing about economic growth to the poor people, especially in rural areas, through local economic development projects. The findings in this study indicate that Motumo Trading Post, which is a government initiative to improve the standard of living of Matoks community, has had no impact since its completion. The community of Matoks did not benefit from the project and the plans by the municipalities were not realised. The study also shows that not enough was done to involve the stakeholders in the planning and development of the project.

Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / his study investigates the impact of poverty-alleviation projects on women development at Mogalakwena Municipality in Limpopo Province. Focus is on three projects, namely; Malokong, Masipa and Rooiwal poultry projects. The researcher has used the qualitative paradigm in this study, though limited aspects of the quantitative approach were also used. Convenience sampling has been used to collect data from a sample of forty (40) women from all the three identified poultry projects. All the respondents are women beneficiaries of different ages in the above-mentioned poultry projects. The study highlights employment generation and appropriate technology versions of growth with equity theories to justify the necessity of poverty-alleviation projects. It confirms the chief characteristic of the employment version that illustrates the projects’ ability to employ different groups of people, particularly those with very low educational backgrounds. These projects enable them to get income that can be used to pay school fees, buy food and pay medical bills in support of their families, thereby improving the overall wellbeing of women in rural communities The approaches (qualitative and quantitative) advocate for the use of local technologies and labour intensive methods to create more jobs and produce economic spin-offs. Poultry projects were chosen because they are appropriate and relevant to the needs of most communities of the Mogalakwena Municipality who are predominantly rural and poor. The study found out that the projects benefit local residents by providing affordable food security needs in the form of fresh chicken meat. These products are a vital source of protein which is necessary for good health. In addition, members derive both economic and social benefits from poultry projects. Given the threats to sustainability of these projects, the study recommends that the government employ more Agricultural Extension Officers and mobilise financial resources to support the activities of these projects. There is also an increased demand for more training on various aspects of management and production for members to maximise output. The study also identifies the significance of a continuous monitoring and evaluation of projects on a regular basis.

No description available.

Thesis (doctoral)--Deutsche Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften, Speyer, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [520]-564).

"Inclusion" in the broad sense of access to, and participation in, public policy and services has been lacking in the majority of developing countries---whether authoritarian or democratic---due to highly skewed political, social and economic power structures. To understand why this tends to be the case, the dissertation provides a political economy model for understanding civil society, arguing that the evolution of civil society and its potential as a vehicle for inclusion are conditioned by the economic imperatives in place and the state prerogatives. More specifically, I question the extent to which the neoliberal model allows civil society to fulfill this role, by examining the impact of Social Funds (SFs), a key social policy institution created and promoted solely under the neoliberal model, on civil society in Egypt and Bolivia. / I argue that neoliberalism severely limits the possibility of: citizenship construction, achieving development synergy between the state and civil society, or strengthening the latter. These limitations are structural, inherent to the neoliberal development model and the changes it has brought about economically and politically. The research shows how these changes have manifestations within the state, the economy and civil society and more specifically social policy. Just as important, there are limitations intrinsically grounded in the structures found in many developing countries, pre-neoliberal changes. Such structures, I argue, do not allow new institutions like SFs to push forward such an ideal three-way relationship among the economy, state and civil society. Rather than strengthening civil society and creating development synergy, SFs are shown to be just an attempt to give neoliberal policies a human face and subdue any potential for structural changes. / More generally, by contrasting the dynamics of civil society under neoliberalism in a developing country with a democratic regime (Bolivia) with those of a soft authoritarian regime (Egypt). I argue that a dichotomous framework, which sees democracy as antithetically opposed to authoritarianism is not necessarily appropriate to the analysis of developing countries. The cases illustrate that the state and civil society, under two-different regime types, continue to share a number of similarities.

M.A. (Public Management and Governance) / This study sought to assess the main outcomes of the 2003 Maputo Declaration encapsulating the political decision of the Heads of State of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), within the framework of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), to allocate at least 10% of national public budgets to the agriculture sector. The scope of the assessment included the levels, composition, efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditures in the agriculture sector. For this reason, the study not only sought to find out the calibration of the levels and quantities of resources allocated to, or spent in the agriculture sector, but also undertook a diagnosis of the composition and patterns in resource allocations and expenditures in the agriculture sector. The study, designed in form of an exploratory and pilot research, was conducted in two African countries (Rwanda and Malawi) and adopted an orientation towards discovering ideas and insights – not for purposes of coming up with final answers or decisions, but rather for providing a better understanding of the situation to inform the construction of larger research efforts. Specifically, the study aimed to: i) determine the patterns in public agriculture allocations and expenditure after the Maputo Declaration; ii) to identify the factors that determine or influence the levels and composition of budgetary allocations and expenditure in the public agricultural sector. From the population frame comprising all 54 member states of the African Union, a purposive stratified sampling method was employed to select the two countries. A judicious blend of qualitative and quantitative methods and attendant techniques was employed in data collection and analysis. Qualitative information was collected largely using a literature review and participatory research methods, such as semi-structured interviews with key informants. On the other hand, quantitative information was collected using a suite of methods and tools, such as simple questionnaires administered among specific country respondents. Anecdotal evidence drawn from literature review showed that Malawi allocates well above the 10% CAADP target for its national resources to agriculture, while Rwanda, in spite of being the first country on the continent to sign the CAADP Compact, allocates less than 10% of its public resources to the sector. The research, undertaking a deeper analysis revealed that Malawi exhibited consistent increases in the percentages of agricultural expenditure as a share of the national expenditure for the entire period under study (2000 to 2013), except in 2002/03 and in 2008/09. In fact, there is evidence that Malawi spent over 30% of its national resources on agriculture, although this percentage declined to 24.7% in the subsequent year. Most of Malawi’s expenditure is explained by the thrust that the government had placed on farm-input subsidies. It is also noteworthy that a significant proportion of Malawi’s agriculture budget (about 80%) is funded by external donors. The research revealed that the expectations of agriculture’s contribution to the growth and development of the national economy forms part of the major explanations behind the gigantic proportions of the national budget allocated to the agricultural sector. This is consistent with findings of another study that showed that show that agricultural-led economic growth has a greater impact on poverty reduction than does the same level of growth driven by non-agricultural sectors. Rwanda exhibited clearly different trends in agriculture expenditure from those exhibited by Malawi; with the exception of a spike recorded in 2001-2002, the subsequent periods all the way to the year 2006 show a consistent decline in expenditure. This study revealed that the share of agriculture expenditure in the national total fell from 8.6% recorded in 2002 to 3.3% in 2006. The patterns in agriculture budget allocations and public expenditure in Rwanda continued to drop and, in the best case scenario, the allocation patterns stagnated. The reasons for the drop before 2007 are unclear. However, Rwanda registered a consistent rise in public expenditure in the agricultural sector after 2007, both in absolute and relative terms. It is recalled that Rwanda was the first country on the continent to sign the CAADP Compact in 2007.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / The study focuses on implementation challenges of Local Economic Development (LED) programmes within Molemole Local Municipality in Limpopo Province. The specific focus areas of the study are Mogwadi and Matoks, where attention was given to Molemole Indigenous Food Processing Cooperative and Sekwena Arts and Craft Project. This study was undertaken as an attempt to investigate challenges pertaining to implementation of LED programmes within Molemole Local Municipality (MLM). Data was collected through questionnaires, documentary analysis of published municipal documents such as Annual Performance Plans, Annual Reports, IDP and LED Strategy of MLM covering the period of 2009/2010 to 2013/2014. Site visits to selected LED projects sites were also undertaken. The overall findings in this study indicate that there is generally a poor understanding of the LED concept in MLM. These findings further point out that there are a number of challenges hindering effective implementation of LED programmes that include inter alia lack of local government collaboration with the private sector and community sectors, lack of appropriate structures for the full implementation and success of LED initiatives, inadequate funding for LED programmes and capacity constraints emanating from a constrained education and ultimately skills void. In view of these findings, some of the recommendations include addressing skewed skills levels of LED staff across the municipality to achieve LED policy objectives, collaboration of Molemole Local Municipality with the private sector and community sectors in order for them to play a meaningful role in LED initiatives, a need for financial support to facilitate LED implementation within the municipality, and remedial action in respect of awareness, and publicity initiatives being stepped up to address the problem of general poor understanding of the LED concept in MLM.

Thesis (M. Sc. Agriculture (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The President of South Africa signed the National Minimum Wage Act, the amendment of both the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Labour Relations Act on Friday, 23 November 2018. These Acts, which were with effect from 1 January 2019, oblige all employers to pay at least the national minimum wage of R20.00/hr. and the agricultural sector has been given an exemption to pay 90% respectively of the national minimum wage (Truter, 2018). Employers in the farming sector are expected to pay at least R18.00 per hour to farm workers. However, farmers are different in terms of their characteristics and farming capacities, and they hold different perceptions towards the revised 2018 agricultural minimum wage. According to Sechaba (2017), it is believed that there will always be different views on what constitutes a decent and acceptable minimum wage. This study investigated the perception of both smallholder and commercial farmers towards the 2018 agricultural minimum wage in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality of the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The study had three objectives; the first objective was to identify and describe the socio-economic characteristics of farmers, the second one was to assess the perception of farmers on the 2018 agricultural minimum wage and the third one was to analyse socio-economic factors influencing the perception of farmers towards agricultural minimum wage in Bushbuckridge Municipality. Purposive sampling was used to collect primary data from 160 smallholder and commercial farmers (Crop and Livestock) in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality (BLM). For empirical analysis the Multinomial Logistic Model was applied for data analysis based on information generated using the Likert scale and the two formulated assumptions; firstly, farmers do not have negative perceptions towards the 2018 agricultural minimum wage and lastly socioeconomic factors do not influence farmers’ perception towards the 2018 agricultural minimum wage. For empirical analysis, Multinomial logistic regression model was run on spss and the descriptive statistics was used to analyse the perception of famers based on the rank data from the Likert scale. Results from Multinomial regression analysis indicated that demographic factors such as number of hectares, household size, age, farming experience, marital status, and labour productivity were found to be significant vi (at 1, 5 and 10%) in distinguishing between pairs of groups and contribution, which they make to change the odds of being in one dependent variable group rather than the other. About 48.8% sampled farmers in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality showed negative perceptions towards the 2018 agricultural minimum wage and were not likely to comply with the 2018 agricultural minimum wage legislation in a sense that they had not been paying the prescribed agricultural minimum wage to farm workers. Those who had positive perceptions and were willing to comply were only 15.0% and those who were uncertain on whether to comply or not comply with the 2018 agricultural minimum wage were 36.2%. Therefore, it can be concluded from results that smallholder and commercial farmers perceive the agricultural minimum wage differently and with majority of them not willing to comply or pay the prescribed amount. Additionally, several factors influences the perception on whether farmers were likely to comply or not to comply by paying the prescribed minimum wage to farm workers, based on the 2018 agricultural minimum wage. Variables: number of hectares, household size, age, experience, marital status and minimum wage were found to be significant (at different significant levels 1, 5 and 10%) in determining whether farmers were more likely or less likely to comply and pay the 2018 agricultural minimum wage. These variables plays a key role in determining farmers’ decision to comply or not to comply with the 2018 agricultural minimum wage. However, gender, minimum wage for farmers, distance to market, access to mechanisation, co-operative membership, access to news, pensioner and educational status were found to be insignificant (at different significant levels 1%, 5% and 10%) at determining whether farmers were likely to comply or not comply with the 2018 agricultural minimum wage. Thus, it is recommended that farmers, regardless of their production scale should be consulted and given a fair platform to articulate their views during the process of policy formulation. Policy makers and government should refrain from using a blanket approach when formulating a policy and taking into consideration the issue of disparities in the agricultural sector, subsectors, regions and operational scale of farmers when discussing the agricultural minimum wage policy.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 K37 / Master of Arts

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Technology: Public Management, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / This thesis explores the management of community development projects in Mafunze and Inadi Tribal authorities. These are rural areas situated on the Westside of Pietermaritzburg along Bulwer Road. The community development projects were developed as means for rural development after the apartheid regime. When the African National Congress came into power after the first democratic elections in 1994, they came up with a working policy document which was the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). Most of the community development projects were executed as per principles of the RDP. The management of these projects involved a number of stakeholders as dealt with extensively in the study. The research was a case study analysis which aimed to determine the extent to which socio- economic upliftment is achieved through community development projects and their management thereof. The sample was drawn from a population of eleven community projects. Project committee members were interviewed in their mother language as most of the committee members would not understand English. The study concentrated on the views and opinions of the stakeholders in the management of community projects. The responses were translated from IsiZulu to English while other comments were captured in IsiZulu then translated into English. The ethical conduct and confidentiality was highly emphasized and kept as such as project communities feared that they may be victimised. The study revealed that total commitment of the community in development issues is vital. This called for active participation in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It also revealed that most projects collapsed after being handed over to the community; further, the study did reveal that there was more room for improvement in terms of skills exchange programmes with the international community.