Interrogating the challenges of the Local Economic Development (LED) as aninstrument of poverty alleviation, in the case of eThekwini municipality, KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa.
Date
2022
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Abstract
Historically, rural-urban migration has remained a common factor in developing
countries. This predicament is motivated by a mass movement of people from their
places of origin searching for better opportunities. Therefore, this leads to massive
urbanization and overcrowding in the city. In South Africa, the city of Durban is
classified as a Metropolitan area and attracts the majority of people from different
regions across the country. Studies show that rural-urban migration patterns often
impact the service delivery of the receiving urban regions. Against the above
background, this study aimed to investigate the impact of rural-urban migration on
local government service delivery through the case study of eThekwini Metropolitan
Municipality. The researcher adopted the exploratory research approach and
conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with six municipal officials from three
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality departments. The three departments interviewed
are: electricity, human settlements and health.
The results revealed that the in-migration in the city of Durban has some impact,
particularly on service delivery. This causes a strain in the city municipality because
of limited resources and high demands of basic services. Contrary to popular beliefs,
some of the rural migration in eThekwini is caused by the failure to distribute resources
in an inclusive manner that promotes rural areas within the eThekwini region. Although
the study respondents revealed that the city municipality is doing its best to respond
to high demands of services, the responses fail to meet the rate of rural-urban
migration from a budgetary point. It is recommended that more resources be allocated
to metropolitan municipalities to respond effectively to the needs of residents and
migrants. Furthermore, the government should prioritize developing previously
disadvantaged areas to avoid urbanization in cities.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.