In this study, Local Economic Development (LED) is defined as an outcome of processes aimed at building up the capacity of local areas for sustainable economic development. The study assesses whether LED interventions, especially agricultural programmes, improve the livelihoods of poor communities in the Amathole District Municipality. Data was collected by use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods through interviews and questionnaires, respectively. Probability and non-probability sampling techniques were used to identify the research sample from the target population. These were further broken down into stratified, purposive and snowball sampling to enable the researcher to select specific municipalities, councillors, officials and stakeholders who participated in the study. Budgetary constraints, staff shortages and lack of required skills/ expertise were identified as the main challenges facing the district. The latter makes it difficult for the municipality to effectively implement sound LED programmes. Consequently, LED benefits are minimal. It is, therefore, recommendable for the municipality to seek other means of generating and boosting their financial viability through partnerships and private sector investments. This in turn will generate revenue for the municipality and ensure economic development in the district, thereby making a meaningful contribution towards the realization of a goal for “a better life for all”.

This study sought to investigate the extent to which Ward Councillors executed their Constitutional and developmental mandate to enhance basic service delivery in relation to the National Urban Renewal Programme (NURP). For practical purposes, a case study approach was chosen, using Motherwell in Nelson Mandela Bay as the specific area of focus. Motherwell was declared by the national government as one of eight nodal zones for urban renewal in South Africa. The Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, states that the injustices of the past have to be addressed and those who suffered for justice and freedom in the country should be honoured. The results of the 1994 national and 1995 local government elections marked a political breakthrough in South African politics. The new democratic and social reconstruction agenda necessitated the transformation of the legislative framework in various areas. In this study, the role of Ward Councillors was interrogated and investigated to establish whether the Urban Renewal Programme had benefited the Motherwell community in Nelson Mandela Bay in accessing basic services. In this regard, a legislative framework regulates and guides municipal Councillors in performing their developmental duties to achieve local government developmental outcomes. The legislative prescriptions that underpin the operations and activities of municipal Councillors in delivering public services to citizens and in ensuring the effective and efficient implementation of government policies generally, and the Motherwell Urban Renewal Programme in particular, were examined and interrogated. An overview of the National Urban Renewal Programme was presented. The legislative framework underpinning the Urban Renewal Programme was also reviewed. The study concluded with a number of recommendations based on the findings of the literature, legislative reviews and an empirical survey.

Service delivery and livelihood strategies in informal settlements‟ have been below par as communities find it hard to maintain a suitable standard of living. The provision of basic services, also social and economic upliftment initiatives to the community are very important in transforming Duncan Village: C-Section into a sustainable human settlement. The study analyses the level of service delivery and livelihoods, in-order to meet the required level of service delivery needed to meet the needs of the people in C-Section. Municipal plan(s) such as the Duncan Village Redevelopment Initiative have been adopted by the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality with the relevant government, private and public stakeholders onboard. The study involved qualitative and qualitative research methods with interviews, plans and policies being used to investigate the key aims and objectives. The lack of funding and the right number of staff (officials) has had implication on the efficient delivery of services, with the density and the terrain of the study also adding on the challenges facing the delivery of infrastructural service. Inward migration has also had a negative impact on service deliver efforts and this problem needs to be addressed by implementing better regional planning. Data collected also highlights a low literacy level within the community which limits peoples‟ participation and access economic activities which adversely affects their livelihoods. The study suggests that for better service delivery there needs to be better constructed business plans to sort out funding for projects for the area and the municipality has to also invest in the number of official needed to improve or better service delivery. An all round strategy needs to be adopted to improve all facets of life for the people in the study and the settlement as a whole with an aim of livelihood improvements.

This research report investigated the effects of a poverty alleviation project, the Cala bakery, on the community members of the Sakhisizwe Municipality in the Eastern Cape. This chapter provides a background to the study and also provides an introduction to the research report by discussing the relevance and problem statement, the research questions, sample and setting, research design and methodology and finally considers the ethical implications of the investigation. May 1997 described South Africa as being a developing nation with the majority of households in poverty, and having unequal distribution of income and wealth. Due to this, the democratic government of 1994 had adopted pro poor policy that focused on social services which its budget increases every year. Within this realm, poverty alleviation projects remained an important component of the government‟s challenge of tackling poverty (May, 1997). After almost 16 years of democracy in South Africa, poverty and unemployment remained a major challenge facing government in provision of basic services (Shasha, 2004). South Africa continued to be characterised by a large scale of unemployment and poverty in the formal sector of the economy in both rural and urban areas (Shasha & Liesle, 2004).Although there was poverty throughout South Africa, poverty was distributed unevenly among the nine provinces of the country. The Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Free State provinces have the highest poverty rates especially among the rural areas (DOS, 2009). The only people who survived poverty in the South African country were people that were well to do, people that could be able to make economic gains. Those people who were unemployed found themselves in debt, as it had been identified that a majority of homes and people do not save. This was due to being a country depending on social welfare services which resulted to disserving of people and to unsustainable levels of household debts. These debts were usually based on social, economic and psychological problems (Shasha & Liesle, 2004). In response, the South African government introduced community based projects whose operation was limited to a particular neighbourhood, and were run and managed by the local members of a community. The white paper for social welfare 1997 had encouraged the establishment of income generating projects which were run and managed by the group of community members who were predominantly unemployed people. The Department of Social Development (DOS, 2004) had further emphasised that these people had to include unemployed youth and that the project beneficiaries would not come from the same household to ensure that the initiative was touching a number of households within the community(DOS, 2004). Furthermore, these government intervention programmes aimed to reduce unemployment and poverty in South Africa by encouraging people to reduce poverty by themselves (Shasha, 2004). An example of one of these programmes was the Cala Development Project. The Cala community‟s youth had a business idea of producing baked products for the community and the surrounding areas. The purpose was to bring people together in order to reduce poverty and unemployment, specifically targeting young people who were household heads. The project has 8 beneficiaries that were committed to working together in this project, with the aim of producing baked foods.

Poverty in South Africa is vast. This is an open secret as it manifests itself in so many ways. It is widely known that South Africans are faced with one of poverty indicators, such as unemployment; hence our government is committed to fight poverty in various ways like, poverty alleviation, poverty eradication and poverty reduction programmes. This study looked at poverty of targeted people after Zamokuhle Ngcweleni was implemented. The researcher looked at the project’s contribution on poverty under sustainable livelihood approach with guidance of OECD(1991) criteria of judging the project these being; relevance, effectiveness and sustainability South Africa is committed in this regard with policies and strategies directed to fight poverty, Altman, Hart and Jacobs (2009). In the Constitution of South Africa (Act 1996) section 27 (1) (b)-(c) of this country, poverty is set to be fought, that people must have access to food sustainably through food security strategy. Government, through its departments commits to deliver to mostly affected people, services that deal with poverty reduction. The Department of Social Development is one of the vehicles to get these services to poverty stricken people blamed to history, politics and social ills. It is upon this background the study is done. The community of Ngcweleni with the assistance of the Department of Social Development and Special Programme has assumed this project, the Zamokuhle Ngcweleni with two activities, household gardens and egg production. 30 beneficiaries would sell for income and feed from the produce .This project started in 2010/11 financial year by the sub section, sustainable livelihood in the DOSD, based from the socio economic conditions of Ngcweleni where poverty is one the characteristic. The Zamokuhle Ngcweleni project was randomly chosen by the researcher for this study. The research was based on the aims and objective of the study. The study took place in a natural setting and was descriptive. Interviews, focus groups, documents and household survey were used by the researcher as data collection tools. The study was qualitative. Data was analysed using themes and interpreted thereafter. Participants were the beneficiaries of the Zamokuhle Ngcweleni project and officials of the department. Tables and graphs were used for biographical information to show age, gender, educational and marital status of the beneficiaries; for officials it showed qualification, designation and gender. The researcher gathered that the project has contributed positively to the poverty of the beneficiaries because of its relevance and effectiveness. It made beneficiaries food secure and the impact showed poverty is reduced. The project showed unsustainability and the researcher recommends the needs to investigate this further.

The adoption of the Millennium Development Goal 1(MDG 1) of reducing the rate of poverty to half of the 1990-level by 2015 has been a challenge faced by the developing countries including South Africa. The foundations of democracy have to be continuously assessed so that the obstacles faced by South Africa as it strives towards sustainable democracy are addressed. With agricultural sector identified as having the potential to alleviate poverty compared to the mining sector, manufacturing sector and services sector, it faced the challenges that include: (i) accelerating agricultural productivity; (ii) reducing poverty and vulnerability; and (iii) narrowing rural-urban income disparities. The identification of the critical linkages in the agricultural development framework allows for effective strategic planning, effective decision making and appropriate policy formulation. Expectedly, the sector has attracted considerable fiscal policy interest and public investments. The primary aim of this research study is to assess the extent to which smallholder agricultural productivity growth alleviates poverty in South Africa. The statistical and econometric techniques namely; Johansen technique of co-integration analysis (1995), analysis of covariance and correlation, Vector Error Correction Model, are employed in this research study. The data description, data sources, expected relationship between variables and indexation of data are done. The drivers and cause-effect relationships between agriculture and poverty reduction are investigated. The employed models allowed for an exploration of plausible future growth in agricultural elasticity of poverty and the possibility of reducing poverty level in South Africa. The data is obtained from the National Department of Agriculture from 1994 -2013. The analysis of the results strongly confirms that agricultural productivity has a significant inverse relationship to the levels of poverty in South Africa. The outcome of the analysis will contribute to improved decision making on the use of public funds in agriculture.

Poverty, inequality and unemployment have always been challenging first in South Africa with special reference to rural South Africa. These persistent challenges with severe impacts on black population are believed to be the results of the previous governance in South Africa. Policies have been formulated, reformulated and others implemented in a form of development projects which have achieved little success in pursuit of combating these challenges. However, in the process of achieving rural development through developmental projects, a fundamental stage in the life cycle of these projects is often omitted or given little attention. This stage is the monitoring and evaluation stage which is critical to ascertain potential impacts (both positive and negative) especially if the project is to be replicated and achieve its objectives as postulated in the millennium development goals. This thesis attempted to carry out a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) of the Agripark project implemented at Dutywa on the livelihoods of communities directly affected by this project. The Agripark project is a project that comprises three linked components, a seedling nursery, an agro-processing facility and a sizeable feeder plot and has been implemented to benefit four villages. This project has been implemented as the second Agripark project by the University of Fort Hare in partnership with the province’s Department of Agriculture. To track change after the implementation of the project, data were collected from the same respondents that were interviewed for the baseline study, therefore, the same sample size that was used in the baseline study was also used for this study. As a tool for data collection, a questionnaire was developed to elicit the required information and was interviewer administered during data collection. The results of the study revealed that Agripark project has impact on both social and economic wellbeing of the households. The processing unit of the project was not yet functioning therefore the project was not fully effective thus the impact was not as intended by the project when the study was carried out. Skills transferred were only on production but only a small number of people could receive them. These households largely relied on external sources of income mainly on social grants and their contribution to total household income had increased to 88% in 2011 compared to 80% in 2008. As much as the increase in incomes cannot be entirely be because of the project but Agripark had a positive impact on household incomes through wages of those employed there and through increased profitability of hawking vegetables. The proportion of household earning incomes less than the Poverty line fell from 85% in 2008 to approximately 79% in 2011. The household complemented their staples with a variety of vegetables and the main source of these vegetables was Agripark even though own production was declining. Even though food was still the main item of these households expenditure, the proportion of income spent on food fell from 64% in 2008 to 48% in 2011. There were no environmental impacts found. From the descriptive analysis, the project had impact on the livelihoods of these households because it brought change on the household expenditure as a result of the income earned by those who are working in the Agripark. There was an improvement on risk of food insecurity through cheaper vegetable that both physically and financially attainable. However, as much as the project had positive impact, there were also concerns raised by the respondents that the employment was only biased to certain individuals which cased stress to some households. Furthermore, the empirical analysis of the selected variables showed that participation in Agripark had an impact on economic wellbeing of the beneficiaries. Thus, funding must be made available to the project so that it can upgrade their electricity and have the processing plant running as it may be the major source of employment, skills development and achievement of its objectives.

In this study, rural households livelihood strategies in communities around Fort Hare and Middle Drift dairy projects in the Nkonkobe Municipality are explored from a household perspective. Rural communities around Fort Hare and Middle Drift dairy projects in Eastern Cape, South Africa are found choosing a multiple of livelihood portfolios that are linked to dairy project activities to increase food, generate income, and safeguard against risks and shocks. The dairy projects in rural areas can reduced the problem of shrinking livelihood options in rural areas were most of the households are relying on government grants which has characterised the rural areas with long queues during month ends. The main objectives of this study are, to assess whether the rural dairy projects set goals are being achieved; to identify dominant livelihood strategies of households living around dairy projects in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa and to identify determinant factors influencing rural households around dairy projects to choose certain livelihood strategies that improve their welfare. The study analysed socio-economic survey data that had been collected from households in six rural villages in Nkonkobe Municipality surrounding the Fort Hare and Middle drift dairy projects. The stratified and random sampling method was used. The descriptive analysis comparing the livelihood portfolios’ in the six rural villages around Fort hare and Middle Drift dairy projects has revealed that there is an increasingly important role of the non-farm economy in the area (income from activities not linked to farming) as compared to farming, non-labour (income from remittances and government grants) and non-farm activities that are combined with farming (non-farm and farming activities). The multinomial logistic regression model revealed, with respect to the household variables, social-economic and institutional related variables as some of the barriers faced by poor households in rural areas sharing boundaries with rural dairy projects to enter into various livelihood strategies. Results from this study outlined that rural communities around dairy projects do not rely much on one livelihood pathway but they link multiple strategies together to improve their standard of living. The study, therefore, conclude that rural dairy projects with activities that are complementing with rural livelihood pathways available can be trusted as a reliable and sustainable livelihood source to reduce poverty in communities which share boundaries with rural dairy projects.

Local economic development (LED) in the countries of the North is a voluntary activity of local government, in South Africa it is a mandatory activity. The purpose of LED is to build the capacity of a local area to improve its economic future and the quality of life for all. While local governments in South Africa are currently engaged with the concept of LED which is seen as a tool through which to achieve sustainable development, it is now recognized that there exists economic, social and environmental interdependence between rural and urban areas and a need for a balanced and mutually supportive approach to development of the rural and urban areas. Adopting the Rural-Urban, Economic and Enterprise Development (RUEED) concept, this study highlights the challenges and development problems experienced by the deep rural and urban communities in the implementation of LED activities within the Blue Crane Route Municipality (BCRM) due to the lack of social, economic and environmental sustainability and rural-urban linkages. This study located in the Blue Crane Route Municipality in the Eastern Cape, seeks to investigate and recommend a map or strategies linking together the urban communities with the poorer neighbourhoods in LED activities. The intensive research design that incorporates the case study method was used to achieve the objectives of this study. The empirical findings of the research indicate that the concept of rural-urban linkages is not an adopted strategy in implementing development programmes resulting in deep rural communities being excluded in LED activities initiated within the Blue Crane Route Municipality. The findings also reveal that the creation of employment opportunities and improvement in the standard of living are important dimensions of LED and rural-urban linkages. This study therefore recommends the adoption of a new perspective referred to as the rural-urban linkages for LED and the consideration of economic, social and environmental complementaries that exist between rural and urban areas in the Blue Crane Route Municipality. The study further indicates that it is critical that the LED policy and interventions reflect the existing patterns of interactions between the rural and urban areas of the Municipality.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, August 2015. / This thesis explores the hypothesis that South Africa’s land reform programme is based on a set of assumptions about the country’s past which are inadequate and have contributed to the failure of policy. The impact of these assumptions is that they support particular models for restitution and rural economic development which became ‘accepted wisdom’ within international development agencies, government, and amongst land activists in South Africa, but which were and still are inappropriate in the South African context. To test this hypothesis I look at the history of land settlement and agriculture in Mopani district of Limpopo province. In particular, I look at how ordinary people accessed and lost rights to land over the nineteenth and twentieth century, and how land became tied up in struggles for political authority and access to resources. I show how the importance of ethnic identities and a sense that land belongs to ‘indigenous’ people of a particular ethnicity, deepened during the Bantustan era. I argue that policymakers could have learned from past government policies. This includes the 1936 Native Trust and Land Act which called for the state to purchase farms from private landowners for African settlement, and smallholder irrigation schemes and co-operatives, which were intended to improve agricultural production in the reserves and homelands. What this history reveals is that land settlement patterns and experiences of land loss were far more complex than the simplified narratives on which land restitution was based. The poor performance of agriculture in reserves and bantustans cannot be blamed on past government policies intended to destroy a peasantry, or on land loss alone, rather there were many challenges and constraints. Women maintained an interest in agriculture throughout the twentieth century, but were not taken seriously by those attempting to improve African agriculture. Africans interested in commercial farming were constrained in how much land they could access. The idea that Africans are naturally communal, and that restitution and development should target ‘communities’ is deeply problematic. Policy failed to take into account these realities. The consequences have been that land restitution has failed to bring redress, restituted farms have failed as commercial operations, those with a real interest in agriculture continue to face constraints, and smallholder irrigation schemes continue to perform poorly.