Local Economic Development Initiatives as an Intervention Measure for Rural Development: A Case of the Amathole District Municipality of the Eastern Cape in South Africa

Abstract

The demise of apartheid in the early 1990s has left South Africa with an indelible social and economic legacy which is characterised by racial division, discrimination‚ high unemployment and poverty rates. These developmental challenges are more pronounced among the previously disadvantaged communities especially in provinces that host the former homelands. Though it can be argued that the new democratic government has made tremendous strides in its first decade but‚ continuing poverty, and inequality tends to undermine these gains, some even sees it as a crisis and perhaps as a threat to survival (Cousin, 2004). Faced by this development impasse, the democratic government has adopted various development endeavours in an attempt to address issues of social and economic development. Among the various efforts being experimented with by the state and non-governmental organisations to bring about social and economic development in South Africa's rural-urban landscape or within the previously disadvantaged communities is Local Economic Development (LED).