IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IN MUYEXE, LIMPOPO By Leabua Jan Sebiloane A research report submitted to the Faculty of Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in 25% fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development Management) June, 2015. ABSTRACT The Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) was introduced as the strategy for rural development by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) in 2009. It was then piloted in two sites namely Riemvasmaak, Northern Cape and Muyexe, Limpopo in 2011. Muyexe was identified as one of the poorest rural areas in South Africa; this provided the motivation for the study to focus on this area. This research study examines the manner in which the CRDP was implemented in the Muyexe area. There is at present no information available on the lessons learned, successes or failures of this strategy. However, there was an evaluation study conducted by DRDLR in collaboration with the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation on the CRDP but the results are not yet published. The overall view is that the desired outcomes were not achieved. The main objective of this research was therefore to investigate factors leading to the poor implementation of this strategy for rural development and to make findings on the approach that was followed during implementation. The research uses qualitative methodology with the Muyexe CRDP as a case study to collect in-depth information from respondents. A purposive sampling method was utilized since it allows beneficiaries and other stakeholders affected by this programme to be interviewed. Several factors emerged as central to the implementation of this strategy. These are strategic leadership, consultation, co-ordination, resource allocation, capacity and skills; and monitoring and evaluation. The I research shows that these factors need to be carefully considered for any strategy to succeed. It was further established that some of these factors were not taken into consideration and as a result this led to poor implementation of the CRDP. There were also some areas of success like housing, electricity, fencing, and household gardens. The terms intervention, strategy, programme and project are used interchangeably to denote CRDP in this study. II DECLARATION I declare that this report is my own, unaided work. It is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development Management) in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination in any other university. --------------------------------- Leabua Jan Sebiloane 01 June 2015 III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Gratitude is expressed to my supervisor, Dr Matshabaphala, who made this work possible through his guidance and his willingness to assist even outside office hours to make this project possible. Recognition is due to the members of the Muyexe Council of Stakeholders, Vongani Child and Youth Development NGO, officials of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform; and the community of Muyexe who contributed immensely and provided their knowledge and insight of the CRDP. Lastly, I am grateful to my family, especially my wife Mokati, who allowed me the time and space needed to complete this project. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... I DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................ III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. V CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................... 3 1.2.1. Rural development at a global level ............................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Rural development in Africa ............................................................................................ 5 1.2.3 Rural development in Sub-Saharan Africa ....................................................................... 9 1.2.4 Rural development in South Africa ................................................................................ 11 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT .......................................................................................................... 21 1.4 PURPOSE STATEMENT ........................................................................................................... 22 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .......................................................................................................... 22 1.6 CHAPTER OUTLINE ................................................................................................................ 23 CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................... 25 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................. 25 2.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 25 2.2 PURPOSE OF LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 25 2.3 THEORIES OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................... 26 2.3.1 Integrated Rural Development ...................................................................................... 27 2.3.2 Multisectoral approach towards rural development ..................................................... 29 2.3.3 Rural development through projects ............................................................................. 30 2.3.4 Land reform theory ........................................................................................................ 32 2.3.5 Agricultural based rural development ........................................................................... 34 2.4 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................................... 35 2.5 THEORIES OF STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION ......................................................................... 36 2.5.1 Structural approach ....................................................................................................... 36 2.5.2 Cultural behaviour theory .............................................................................................. 38 2.5.3 Monitoring performance and evaluating results ........................................................... 41 2.6 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................................. 43 2.6.1 People centred approach ............................................................................................... 43 2.6.2 Strategic leadership ....................................................................................................... 45 2.7 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................. 48 CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................................ 49 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 49 3.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 49 3.2 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH .................................................................................................... 50 V 3.3 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ....................................................................................................... 52 3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN................................................................................................................. 54 3.5 DATA COLLECTION ................................................................................................................ 54 3.5.1 Primary data .................................................................................................................. 55 3.5.2 Secondary data .............................................................................................................. 55 3.6 SAMPLING ............................................................................................................................. 56 3.7 DATA ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................... 57 3.8 DATA VALIDATION ................................................................................................................