Rural Development Outcomes and Policies in South Africa's Limpopo
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Rural development outcomes and policies in South Africa’s Limpopo Province By MOYE THABANG MALATJI submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree MASTER OF COMMERCE in the subject ECONOMICS at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF P LALTHAPERSAD-PILLAY FEBRUARY 2020 DECLARATION Name: MOYE THABANG MALATJI Student number: 45262284 Degree: MASTER OF COMMERCE Title: RURAL DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES AND POLICIES IN SOUTH AFRICA’S LIMPOPO PROVINCE I declare that the above dissertation is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. I further declare that I submitted the dissertation to originality checking software and that it falls within the accepted requirements for originality. I further declare that I have not previously submitted this work, or part of it, for examination at Unisa for another qualification or at any other higher education institution. ________________________ _____________________ SIGNATURE DATE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My gratitude to the managers and administrators of Unisa’s Graduate Development Fellowship Project for giving me continued and unreserved support when undertaking this study. All the workshops they organised for graduate fellows equipped me with knowledge and skills sets that contributed to the completion of this study. My sincere thanks to my supervisor Professor P Lalthapersad-Pillay in her capacity as promoter of this dissertation. Thanks so much for your invaluable guidance and support. ABSTRACT Rural development is a key policy area in developing countries. Its basic premise boils down to improving the economic well-being and quality of life of rural people. Best practices regarding rural development in developing countries, including Benin, China, Korea and Rwanda, that are known to have been relatively successful in reducing poverty and diversifying the rural economy showed that strong governance, institutional capabilities, active rural communities, and most importantly funding, are all essential for successful rural development. Moreover, land reform and investment in agriculture, infrastructure, education and health play a crucial role in the early stages of rural development. The aim of this study was to examine the concept of rural development as well as policy measures and best practices relating to rural development in order to formulate a rural development strategy for the rural areas of Limpopo Province. To achieve its research objectives, the study used a qualitative research method and secondary data analysis. Before 1995, rural development in South Africa was neglected, resulting in underdevelopment and impoverishment in rural areas. Post-1994, policies for rural development were adopted by the democratic government to improve the economic well-being of people living in rural communities. However, this had thus far limited success as high levels of poverty and inequalities in rural areas still prevails. Those highly affected were rural people in Limpopo Province. In 2018, Limpopo was the most predominantly rural province in South Africa, with over 80% of the population living in rural areas. The study classified Limpopo’s local municipalities into three types of areas, namely predominantly rural area (a local municipality is classified as predominantly rural area if the share of rural population in the local municipal area is above 50%), significantly rural area (that is, a local municipality where the share of rural population in the local area represents between 15% and 49% of the local area’s total population), and predominantly urban area (that is, a local municipality where the share of rural population in the local area is below 15%). Out of 25 local municipalities in Limpopo, 19 were predominantly rural areas, five were significantly rural areas and one was predominantly urban area. Findings show that, in rural areas of Limpopo, there was the prevalence of lower-wage jobs, lower educational attainment, a higher share of low-income households, and more than half of the population depended on government's social grants (including old age grant) and remittances as their income sources. Analysis indicates that educational attainment, household income levels, consumption expenditure and investment tend to be relatively lower, while the unemployment rate is higher, in predominantly rural areas. The economic structure is changing as the share of the primary sector in total Gross Value Added (GVA) is slowly declining, while that of the tertiary sector is gradually increasing. Regarding the contributions to the GVA and employment by sector in predominantly rural areas, agriculture contributed less than 3% to the total GVA, yet it is one of the top employers, contributing 13% of employment. Although mining contributed the most (23,7%) to the total GVA, it only employed 4% of the workforce. To address challenges in rural areas, a rural development strategy for Limpopo Province should contain policy tools that will promote infrastructure development for better access to education, communication, transport, safe water and other basic facilities. It should also encourage capital formation in rural enterprises; promote multi-sectoral development involving reviving agriculture, developing tourism and manufacturing sectors; and promote agro-processing and downstream mineral beneficiation; improve support and access to funding for rural enterprises; and promote the development of the green economy to create decent job opportunities. Access to land and land tenure security are a necessity to stimulate investment needed to accelerate rural development. KEY TERMS: Rural development; poverty alleviation; socio-economic indicators; rural development outcomes and policies; land policy; agriculture; agro-processing; significantly rural areas; predominantly rural areas; South Africa; Limpopo Province. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Background ............................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Problem statement ................................................................................................................. 3 1.4 Research aim and specific objectives .................................................................................... 4 1.5 Research questions ................................................................................................................. 5 1.6 Research design and methodology ........................................................................................ 5 1.7 Significance of the study ....................................................................................................... 7 1.8 Layout of chapters ................................................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER 2: RURAL DEVELOPMENT: CONCEPTS, THEORIES AND APPROACHES ............................................................................................................................. 9 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 9 2.2 Concept and theories of development .................................................................................... 9 2.2.1 The 1950s: Development as economic growth and industrialisation ........................... 11 2.2.2 The 1960s: Development as modernisation .................................................................. 12 2.2.3 The 1970s: Dependency theory ..................................................................................... 12 2.2.4 The 1980s: Neoliberalism ............................................................................................. 13 2.2.5 The 1990s and 2000s: The fight against poverty, and sustainable development .......... 13 2.3 The concept of rural development ....................................................................................... 14 2.3.1 Definition of “rural area” .............................................................................................. 14 2.3.2 Understanding the concept of rural development ......................................................... 16 2.3.3 Why focus on rural development? ................................................................................ 20 2.3.4 A brief history of rural development approaches .......................................................... 21 2.4 Global development goals ................................................................................................... 33 2.4.1 The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ............................................................. 33 2.4.2 The post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) .............................................. 36 2.5 Measures of rural development ........................................................................................... 38 2.5.1 Definitions and types of rural development indictors ................................................... 38 2.5.2 Purpose of indicators ..................................................................................................... 39 2.5.3 Criteria for selecting indicators ....................................................................................