LED plan

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

The Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDT) has commissioned SiVEST SA (Pty) Ltd to undertake a Local Economic Development Study for the Amajuba District Municipality (ADM) in KwaZulu-Natal.

In terms of the guidelines issued by the Department of Traditional and Local Government Affairs, an LED Plan is a sector plan to form part of the IDP process. From a strategic perspective, the LED Plan itself must provide a framework that is incorporated in to the IDP providing a strategic yet meaningful guideline to the ADM in terms of where it should focus its LED initiatives.

To this end, the LED plan must therefore manifest itself within the IDP, yet be independent as a plan that is purposeful and implementable.

The objective of the LED plan is to provide a framework, with the aim of integrating and co-ordinating activities and decisions made by development agencies within the district. Part of the problem relates to the lack of clarity in terms of roles, functions, and procedures to be followed by the various roleplayers in the filed of promoting economic development.

The LED Plan should also provide a matrix to assist with the prioritisation and selection of projects within the various sectors thereby enabling strategic and focussed decision making. In furtherance of this objective, a communication strategy is to be developed to further amplify co-ordinated decision making.