Institutional Arrangements to Support the Implementation of Local Economic Development in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality

Abstract

Successful implementation of Local Economic Developed (LED) remains a key policy issue in Gauteng Province. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the roles of the Gauteng Departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and Economic Development (DED) to support the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (City of Tshwane) to implement LED initiatives successfully.The investigation adopted the single case study method, while data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews. The study confirmed that LED support is a multi-agency undertaking that involves national and provincial government agencies. The LED support process is nonetheless characterised by duplication of interventions, unsound inter-governmental relations, unclear definition of roles, and poor coordination. The research study also found a disjuncture between the roles of the DED and the Cogta in LED support. The research study recommends in order to improve the success rate of LED initiatives in the City of Tshwane, the Gauteng Cogta should play an active role in LED support and LED monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, there is a need to improve governmental relations as well as to enhance co-ordination of LED support initiatives in the City of Tshwane.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n2p325