Inclusive Local Economic Development For Effective Service Delivery In High-Risk Municipalities

High-risk municipalities in South Africa are identified by their inability to render public goods and services owing to their almost dysfunctional operating systems and structures. Such municipalities are in financial distress and struggle to ensure inclusivity in implementing Local Economic Development (LED) projects that target poverty alleviation in impoverished communities. To understand how high-risk municipalities, expose citizens to dire poverty and inequalities, the study draws from an interpretive paradigm that allows for the use of a qualitative approach. A critical discourse analysis (CDA) was adopted to examine the implementation of various LED programmes in South African high-risk municipalities to alleviate poverty and promote socio-economic development. Peer-reviewed journal articles were used to validate the discussions emanating from the extensive document review. Findings derived from the study have shown that LED strategies as poverty alleviation techniques in high-risk municipalities have been met with several challenges. These include coalition politics, skills shortage, poor financial accountability, lack of compliance with legislation, weak oversight structures, poor strategic planning and budgeting skills including lack of monitoring and evaluation of the LED programmes. Derived from this study is that in high-risk municipalities, dedicated budgets are required to support municipal officials' training and development, which is critical for driving inclusive LED and poverty reduction programmes. Inclusive citizen participation in LED projects is fundamental for creating the citizen's sense of gain while triggering innovative capacities that lead to employment regeneration. Conclusions drawn for this paper indicate that regular monitoring and evaluation are key to ensuring that systems and structures of high-risk municipalities become responsive to the needs of citizens while accelerating developmental local government in South Africa. The study recommends co-production in the form of active stakeholder networking of public officials since fostering close ties with the mutually beneficial private sector through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) can help enhance public service delivery in high-risk municipalities.