SMMEs and Local Economic-base Restructuring-A South African Local Government Perspective

摘要

SMMEs worldwide are seen as the cornerstone of national economies. In South Africa they have acquired government support as a means in order to restructure the economy, reduce poverty and to create jobs. In local government they are viewed as part of a local economic development strategy to reduce persistent spatial inequalities bequeathed by apartheid and whose impact is visibly disparate in towns and townships. If SMME development could be driven by local municipalities, then spatial inequalities in South Africa's local municipalities would be reduced. However, this is often not the case because of the failure of municipalities to take advantage of their role within the intergovernmental relations framework and their reliance on SMME development interventions from national and provincial spheres of government. They, in fact, have the potential to reduce unemployment, generate income, create assets, contribute to skills development, reduce the rate of crime and often violent service delivery protests, and at tract investment into local municipalities. They have the potential to contribute to the local economic-base restructuring of the South African local government.