Economic development remains elusive for many world economies, but especially those of African countries. The current global inequalities in terms of GNP per capita and human living standards between developed and developing nations have ensured that the challenges of food insecurities are only some of the many negative experiences of underdevelopment in the African continent. Hence, delivery pressures are increasing on policy makers and researchers to provide tangible and timely economic solutions to the resilient state of underdevelopment. In the policy fights against the challenges posed by a lack of development in South Africa, the agricultural sector has in the past and continues in the present to play a central role. Such is the case because the majority of citizens rely on agricultural production activities for their livelihoods. For instance, even though the sector only contributed four percent towards the national Gross Domestic Product in 2006, in the Eastern Cape Province, more than seventy percent of the total population resided in rural areas. Moreover, in 2004 more than sixty percent of the national formal and informal employment levels were found in the sector. These economic indicators do not only reinforce the assertions that high levels of geographical and sectoral inequalities exist in the country’s economy, but they also illustrate the importance of the agricultural sector in public policy attempts, which are aimed at achieving food security alongside long-term developmental objectives. Some economists, especially the proponents of institutionalism, have argued that most of the recommendations to public policy interventions from mainstream economic research endeavours are not adequately helpful. The recommendations generally lack well considered and socially effective ideas, mainly because there remains some level of ignorance about the impacts that institutions have on economic and social systems. Some argue that this ignorance is reflected in (flawed) hedonistic and rationalist assumptions made about economic actors and in the methodological thinking of many research designs and economic analyses. The misuse of formal tools and statistical methods, for example, are some of the important factors, which have led to failures of the discipline of economics to provide effective policy solutions to problems of underdevelopment and poverty, especially in poor country environments. The thesis, having taken account of the majority of criticisms levelled against the classical and new-classical economic schools of thought, argues that the discipline as a whole lacks a paradigmatic integration of institutional and new-classical economic perspectives to offer appropriate guidelines for a methodology aimed at achieving socially responsive research outputs. The lack of this integration has resulted in a skewed selection of methods by economists, which are employed in research without a supportive and in-depth understanding of institutional and social factors. To support the thesis, a more effective and integrated framework for economic research is developed and presented with case study illustrations in a cumulative manner. The 20th century history of agricultural policies in South Africa, the agricultural and institutional case studies from the Eastern Cape Province alongside reviews of other agricultural studies are all used in presenting a case for rigorous institutional investigations in general economic research. These are also used in developing the proposed integrated framework, which aims to give guidance in developing research methods, which are more socially responsive. Having shown the usefulness of the proposed research framework, the thesis recommends that public policy interventions (at national and local levels) should aim to eliminate all types of institutions which have high associated transactional costs. The interventions should also encourage the emergence and growth of the types of institutions, which present the lowest costs to initiatives of economic development. In the primary case studies from the Eastern Cape Province, the insecurity of land tenure and the various local initiatives of business ventures are highlighted as two examples of the types of institutions, which respectively present high and low transactional costs to local initiatives of agricultural and economic development.

The study explores the suitability of the evaluation criteria used in Microprojects Programme Trust (MPT), by looking at hard and soft components of the development programme. In this sense hard components of development refer to those components of projects that are tangible and can be physically observed and can bring material changes to the life of the community. Soft components of development refer to those components of projects that bring qualitative transformation to the life of the community, i.e. increased levels of awareness, human well-being and the empowerment process that addresses the community's abstract needs, these are not tangible and often cannot be physically observed. Midway through its contract periods MPT evaluate all projects. The purpose of these mid term evaluations is to make recommendations to MPT on future approaches and methodology for community development and operations. The mid-term evaluation also influences the distribution and allocation of resources and funding. It was therefore vital that the criteria used are subject to tests and critical analysis so as to assess their validity. The assessment of the mid-term evaluation criteria used in MPT projects has been to further determine the appropriateness or suitability of the evaluation criteria as an instrument to measure and guide the MPT community development approach in the Eastern Cape. The method used was to conduct focus group discussions so as to get an insight into the local community situation as well as to assess non-tangible improvements and changes that have occurred in the life of the community as a result of the project. The information generated was used to compare what the community believe they achieved with what the official mid-term evaluation reports indicate was assessed and achieved and that was contrasted with what the literature recommends should have been assessed. The study found that the mid-term evaluations conducted on MPT projects have no social context in which the evaluations themselves were conducted. The terms of reference and criteria were based on the programme design which was formulated and compiled by the European Union without the participation of the local South African community. The findings also indicated that projects become unsuccessful or partly successful if the "soft" components which have a bearing on social and economic realities are neglected. The thesis ends with recommendations on how the mid-term evaluations as well as MPT programme can be developed to be more responsive to the needs as identified by the communities themselves. It is strongly believed that this study will provide a valuable contribution towards increasing the ability of MPT programme to bring about both material and qualitative transformation to the I ives of the disadvantaged community of the Eastern Cape whilst ensuring that the mid-term evaluations are developed and shaped to become an appropriate instrument to measure and guide MPT programme approach to community development.

Exchange rates are believed to be one of the major driving forces behind sustainable macroeconomic growth and it is therefore important to ensure that they are at an appropriate level. Exchange rate misalignment is a situation where the actual exchange rate differs significantly from its equilibrium value, resulting in either an overvalued or an undervalued currency. The problem with an undervalued currency is that it will increase the domestic price of tradable goods whereas an overvalued currency will cause a fall in the domestic prices of the tradable goods. Persistent exchange rate misalignment is thus expected to result in severe macroeconomic instability. The aim of this study is to estimate the equilibrium real exchange rate for both Ghana and Nigeria. After so doing, the equilibrium real exchange rate is compared to the actual real exchange rate, in order to assess the extent of real exchange rate misalignment in both countries, if any such exists. In order test the applicability of the equilibrium exchange rate models, the study draws from the simple monetary model as well as the Edwards (1989) and Montiel (1999) models. These models postulate that the variables which determine the real exchange rate are the terms of trade, trade restrictions, domestic interest rates, foreign aid inflow, income, money supply, world inflation, government consumption expenditure, world interest rates, capital controls and technological progress. Due to data limitations in Ghana and in Nigeria, not all the variables are utilised in the study. The study uses the Johansen (1995) model as well as the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) to estimate the long- and the short-run relationships between the above-mentioned determinants and the real exchange rate. Thereafter the study employs the Hodrick-Prescott filter to estimate the permanent equilibrium exchange rate. The study estimates a real exchange rate model each for Ghana and Nigeria. Both the exchange rate models for Ghana and Nigeria provide evidence of exchange rate misalignment. The model for Ghana shows that from the first quarter of 1980 to the last quarter of 1983 the real exchange rate was overvalued; thereafter the exchange rate moved close to its equilibrium value and was generally undervalued with few and short-lived episodes of overvaluation. In regard to real exchange rate misalignment in Nigeria prior to the Structural Adjustment Program in 1986 there were episodes of undervaluation from the first quarter of 1980 to the first quarter of 1984 and overvaluation from the second quarter of 1984 to the third quarter of 1986; thereafter the exchange rate was generally and marginally undervalued.

Community Economic Development (CED) in South Africa is shaped by the historicalprocesses of the former Apartheid regime that discriminated the social and economic rights of the majority of people, thus disempowering them to participate in development. The notion of Integrated Community Economic Development (ICED) enhances the concept of participation in community economic development in that it advocates for an empowerment dimension in development. In order to facilitate this participation, the government has introduced the participatory mechanisms of the IDP and ward committee system. Paradoxically, inequalities in development persist in previously disadvantaged homelands which were excluded from participation in developmental initiatives of the former regime. Consequently, these mechanisms for ICED have not been able to achieve participation of communities in ICED. Winterveldt is one such area with a legacy of social exclusion through racial and ethnic discrimination. The goal of the study was to explore the lack of participation of the Winterveldt community in ICED guided by the research question: “What are the reasons for the lack of participation of the Winterveldt community in ICED?” A qualitative research approach was followed and the research design was a case study. Data was gathered through focus group interviews and document studies. The focus groups were comprised of 13 community participants and 10 ward committee personnel from Winterveldt. Research findings revealed various reasons for the lack of participation in the ICED of Winterveldt including role confusion, the lack of information and training on the IDP and political power abuse. The study concluded that participation flows along lines that safeguard the interests of local government with little respect for the community’s capacity to make decisions concerning their development. Recommendations towards the achievement of participation in the ICED of Winterveldt include training on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), the development of a guideline for implementing the IDP and changes in attitudes of all actors in the ICED of Winterveldt. Copyright / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Poverty is one of the issues that affects the development in our country. the strategies that are used differ from one to person to another. development is said to be measured through a lot of things but mostly through economic growth which influenced by poverty. the purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the strategies being used to alleviate poverty in the Motherwell township, in Port Elizabeth. The study focused mainly on Vukuzenzele gardening project, where a sample of 15 participants were purposovely selected to be part of the study. Furthermore, the aim of the study was to contribute towards community development by investigating the social issues that directly influence poverty eradication.

There is a growing consensus globally about the significance of developing local and regional economies in order to create sustainable livelihood for local communities. The policy discourse in South Africa and elsewhere as well as the immense body of literature on local economic development bears testimony to this reality (Nel 1994,Tomlinson 1994, Rogerson 2003, World Bank 2002). The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) and the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act (Act 36 of 2000) enshrine the role of municipalities in enhancing the economic growth and development, and harnessing the social wellbeing of the communities ‘through creation of employment opportunities and redistribution of resources’. Importantly, this legislative framework must be accompanied by, on the one hand proper structures and political will, and on the other hand provision of resources and institutional capacity for realization of the long term objectives of Local Economic Development (LED). In order to be successfully mainstreamed and implemented the LED must be embodied within the legally prescribed Integrated Development Plans. In addition, the LED strategy must be incorporated within the Provincial Growth and Development Strategies (PGDS). In this research an exploration of the Local Economic Development Programme on the Blue Crane Route Municipality with specific reference to Cookhouse was investigated. The primary aim of this study was to establish the views of the residents regarding their perceptions of the LED and its effects in terms of addressing current poverty related problems and their view on the proposed wind farm project, to investigate the proposed implementation process of LED project, specifically at Cookhouse. The second objective of this research was to present empirical data from both a questionnaire completed by 18 respondents and two interviews, that helps amplify and verify the impact of LED at BCRM. The question answered was whether the proposed wind farm will make an impact on the lives of the ordinary people at Cookhouse. The final objective of this research to identify the shortcomings in the LED development process in the BCRM and to make recommendations on feasible actions that could be employed to alleviate poverty. The findings of the research suggest that the proposed project should be evaluated taking the themes of social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainable development into account. Also the findings of the research have noted that community members are not aware of what opportunities this project will bring to the community of Cookhouse. It should be noted that when this project was identified, the community was never consulted and now it’s very difficult at this stage to reject the project since there employment opportunities. Therefore local authorities are constitutionally obliged create space for community participation, which warrants accessibility and availability of information to local communities to enable to participate effectively.

Dissertation submitted in full compliance with the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Technology: Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2012 / The dissertation focuses on the implementation of strategies and programmes that are aimed at boosting local economic development at Sobonakhona Makhanya Traditional Area by the EThekwini Municipality. Sobonakhona Makhanya Traditional Area is one of the three main traditional/rural areas making up the Greater Umbumbulu Area, which is situated some 20 kilometres south-west of the Durban Central District. Each of these traditional/rural areas is ruled by its own Traditional Leader. The Sobonakhona Area is made up of areas that can be described as deep rural and peri-urban. For the purpose of this study a municipality and a local government are treated as the same entity. The implementation of these strategies in the deep rural Sobonakhona Area has, however, so far proven to be more challenging than it was initially conceived. This can be partly attributed to the following factors, firstly; before 1994, all matters related to rural economic development initiatives in South Africa fell under the jurisdiction of either the provincial governments or national line ministries or homeland governments – not municipalities. Secondly, between 1994 and 2002, all strategies/programmes that were aimed at boosting economic development were, through the national government’s previous SMME strategy, carried out at national level by the Department of Trade and Industry and its affiliated agencies. Thirdly, the 2000 demarcation of municipal boundaries saw a number of rural areas being incorporated under some municipalities that had jurisdiction over urban areas only, and this created an additional service delivery challenge for these municipalities. Whilst these municipalities were still baffled by how to accommodate/incorporate the rural areas under their programmes, the national government, in 2002, introduced a new SMME strategy (replacing the previous SMME strategy) that required municipalities to effect economic development at local government level. This also presented its own challenge as very few of these municipalities had experience and/or knowledge in the formulation and implementation of local economic development programmes/strategies. This dissertation therefore seeks to uncover the challenges that the EThekwini Municipality faces as it attempts to implement its economic development strategies and programmes for its rural areas in particular, with Sobonakhona Area being the area of focus. The EThekwini Municipality is one of those municipalities that previously had no rural areas under its control. Chapter One of the dissertation introduces the topic of the study together with the relevant background to the study. Chapter Two discusses the research methodology used in an attempt to unravel the study’s research problem. Chapter Three discusses literature review on implementation of strategies and programmes aimed at boosting economic development in rural areas. Chapter Four outlines both the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government and the EThekwini Municipality’s strategies and programmes that are thought would promote economic development in the province and in the EThekwini region respectively. Results uncovered by this study are discussed in Chapter Five. Chapter Six concludes the study by presenting recommendations on how to improve implementation efforts. / M

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the perceptions on the role of locally owned small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the economic development of Rustenburg, South Africa. The study was motivated by theoretical findings that SMMEs are the cornerstone of economic development; yet, the levels of unemployment and poverty were still escalating in Rustenburg. This prompted the researcher to investigate the perceptions on the role of locally owned small, medium and micro enterprises in the economic development of Rustenburg, South Africa, and the extent of their contribution. The study adopted a descriptive research design and a quantitative approach to determine the role of SMMEs and the extent of their contribution to the economic development of Rustenburg. The study focused on Rustenburg, which had 223 registered SMMEs at the time. The registered 213 SMMEs were identified as the target population of the study, and 10 registered SMMEs participated in the pilot study. A structured questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument. Two hundred and thirteen (213) copies of questionnaires were self-administered. One hundred and eighty-two (182) completed questionnaires were returned, which represented an 85% response rate. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data by utilising the Statistical Analysis Software (SAS). Statistical techniques used in this study comprised frequency analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson’s correlation test, and Tukey’s studentised range test. Empirical findings revealed that SMMEs play a significant role in contributing to the economic development, employment generation and poverty reduction of Rustenburg, with SMMEs in the mining sector making a greater and more significant contribution than other sectors. The study concluded that SMMEs perform a critical role in contributing to the economic development of Rustenburg, especially those in the mining sector. Recommendations were that government should consider increasing the development programmes for SMMEs that operate in Rustenburg, invest in SMMEs’ technology and provide practical SMMEs development training. In addition, government should provide sufficient funding for SMMEs and improve the regulatory framework that governs the SMME sector. This particular study focused on SMMEs operating in Rustenburg. Another study could be conducted on foreign-owned SMMEs. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

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. Com. (Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / Investment as one of the important macroeconomic variables can ensure infrastructure development and growth in the economy by raising the productive capacity. The study seeks to examine the determinants of investment activity in South Africa by means of the Cointegrated Vector Autoregression approach. The results of this study could assist policy makers to come up with policies that could encourage investment. The findings will add to the existing theory and knowledge as there is limited research on investment, more especially in South Africa. The empirical results revealed that the long and short run relationship exists amongst the variables under investigation. Furthermore, it was found that there is positive relationship between economic growth, interest rate, inflation and investment. Taxation and investment are negatively related in South Africa both in the long and short run. This indicates that investment activity can be explained by tax, economic growth, interest rates and inflation. The study recommend that the government should also find methods of increasing its revenue base. This could be done by creating a tax policy and system that is able to capture the informal sector because various un-registered businesses go unrecorded when estimating the tax to be collected in a fiscal year. This may be another way of increasing the level economic growth (GDP) since it will generate more fund for government to spend. KEY CONCEPTS: Gross fixed capital formation, Economic growth, taxation, interest rates, inflation.