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ASSESSING THE BUFFALO CITY MUNICIPALITY’S PERFOMANCE UNDER ITS DEVELOPMENTAL POST 1994 URBAN PLANNING POLICIES FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE CASE OF THE EAST LONDON IDZ by TOBELA MICHAEL ZENZELE TWALA Research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Bachelor of Town and Regional Planning in the Faculty of Engineering, Built environment and Information Technology, University of Pretoria Supervisor: Dr J Coetzee September 2012

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The research looked at the Economic upliftment of an Industrial Development Zone towards a South African municipality it is under. Its a case study for the Buffalo City Municiplaity and the IDZ project in South Africa, Eastern Cape.

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Page 1: ASSESSING THE BUFFALO CITY MUNICIPALITY’S PERFOMANCE UNDER ITS DEVELOPMENTAL POST 1994 URBAN PLANNING POLICIES FOR   ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE CASE OF THE EAST LONDON IDZ

ASSESSING THE BUFFALO CITY MUNICIPALITY’S PERFOMANCE UNDER ITS

DEVELOPMENTAL POST 1994 URBAN PLANNING POLICIES FOR

ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE CASE OF THE EAST LONDON IDZ

by

TOBELA MICHAEL ZENZELE TWALA

Research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree

Bachelor of Town and Regional Planning in the Faculty of Engineering, Built

environment and Information Technology, University of Pretoria

Supervisor: Dr J Coetzee

September 2012

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SUMMARY

Since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, the Buffalo City Municipality has gone through

a series of highs and lows which have been outplayed in various aspects including political,

socio-economic, environmental and physical. It is now evident that major development in this

region has been more for the private sector than for the public sector and this made for an

interesting study to find out as to why this imbalance exists. The in-depth interviews and

questionnaires done for the research give a not-so-obvious account to this unbalanced

development and that being the instability of the municipal structure itself. The lack of

permanent appointments to important municipal positions such as the Municipal Manager

and also the Chief Financial Officer have created a major instability in the functioning of the

municipality. As we know municipalities are at the fore-front of government as they

implement the national policy to the citizens whereby a sound municipality will produce

evenly-spread growth for all stakeholders of a municipal area.

This unstable municipal environment of the Buffalo City has restricted the development

potential of major interventions like the East London Industrial Development Zone to

effectively engage in the upliftment of the greater Buffalo City community at large. The East

London’s IDZ boasts a stable success rate that has been highly independent to the city’s

development visions. With the present context of integrated developmental planning in the

South African municipalities, the Buffalo City Municipality and East London IDZ relationship

should be better than already is. The municipality has mostly adhered to the Department of

Trade and Industry’s imperative to offer land and bulk services to the East London IDZ

project. The poor knowledge from the public about the East London IDZ shows the lack of a

facilitative role from the Buffalo City Municipality to explore this association and to further

strengthen the relationship between the IDZ and the people.

The recommendations given by the researcher firstly looked at planning related ways of

improving the situation then further looked at the legislation process of acts related to local

municipality. The Department of Cooperative Governance’s policy on local government looks

at how a municipality should be managed by clear and encouraging guidelines to realise a

developmental sphere to local government.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The research has been a great opportunity to embark on a journey to higher intellectual

standards. It was a new venture that was full of uncertainty and the following made the

lesson easier and more enjoyable.

The Almighty Heavenly Father who gives us life and from whom all wisdom is derived.

Dr Jonny Coetzee, for being a great supervisor and friend to a young man full of dreams.

Dr Thembisa Norushe who stretched a hand and gave me encouragement and free

advice free of charge.

Professor Mark Oranje for the encouragement and mentoring.

Mr and Mrs Twala, my dear parents, who have always been supportive and believed in

me even when I didn’t.

Miss Sharon Machika for being my sunshine, always.

The following helped a great deal by investing their time, knowledge and patience to offer

me with more than I thought I needed in terms of the research content itself.

Mr Nangamso Mabindla

Mr Ray Hartle

Mr Kreason Naidoo

Mr Raymond Foster

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Declaration of originality i

Summary ii

Acknowledgements iii

List of tables vii

List of figures viii

List of abbreviations ix

1. General Introduction 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Area of Study (Frame of Reference) 2

1.3 Problem Statement 2

1.4 Research Question and Sub-Problems 3

1.5 Objective and Significance of Study 4

1.6 Concluding Remarks 4

2. Methodology 5

2.1 Role of the Researcher 5

2.2 Nature of Study 5

2.3 Limitations and Delimitations 6

2.4 Data Collection Method and Analysis Strategies 7

2.5 Time Frame 8

3. Review of Related Literature 9

3.1 Introduction 9

3.2 Post 1994 South African policies 9

3.2.1 A Rationale 9

3.2.2 National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP) 10

3.2.3 Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative South Africa (ASGISA) 10

3.3 Buffalo City Municipality Post 1994 Policies 11

3.3.1 A Rationale 11

3.3.2 The Buffalo City Integrated Development Plan (BCDIP) 11

3.3.3 Buffalo City Spatial Development Framework (BCSDF) 11

3.3.4 Buffalo City Development Strategy (BCDS) 12

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3.3.5 Buffalo City Local Economic Development Strategy (BCLEDS) 12

3.3.6 Buffalo City Youth Development Strategy (BCYDS) 12

3.3.7 Buffalo City Integrated Transport Plan (BCITP) 12

3.3.8 Buffalo City Integrated Environment Management Plan (BCIEMP) 13

3.3.9 Buffalo City Integrated Waste Management Plan (BCIWMP ) 13

3.3.10 Buffalo City Management Plan (BCMP) 13

3.3.11 Buffalo City Turnaround Strategy 14

3.3.12 Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan (ECPGDP) 14

3.4 Buffalo City Planning related legislation 14

3.4.1 A Rationale 14

3.4.2 The Development Facilitation Act of 1995 (DFA) 15

3.4.3 Skills Development Act of 1998 (SDA) 15

3.5 The Industrial Development Zone and related policies 15

3.5.1 A Rationale 15

3.5.2 Eastern Cape Provincial Industrial Development Strategy, ECPIDS 16

3.5.3 The National Industrial Policy Action Plan 2011/12 – 2013/14, IPAP-II 16

3.6 South African Governance In General 16

3.6.1 A Rationale 16

3.6.2 Governance of Local Municipalities 17

3.7 Concluding Remarks 18

4. The State of Local Government Development Policy in South Africa Post 1994 19

5. The Performance of the Buffalo City Municipality 21

6. The state of Industrial Development Zones in South Africa 24

7. What Role Does the East London IDZ Play in Buffalo City’s Economy? 27

8. Analysis and Themes 30

8.1 Introduction 30

8.2 Analysis of Interviews 30

8.2.1 In-Depth Interviews 30

8.2.2 Public Questionnaire 34

8.2.3 What the surveys show 36

8.2.4 Themes formed from interviews 37

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8.3 Conclusion Remarks 38

9. Synthesis and Recommendations 39

9.1 Introduction 39

9.2 Synthesis 39

9.2.1 General knowledge of the East London IDZ and its proper incorporation with

the Buffalo City Municipality 39

9.2.2 Maximum use of the East London IDZ potential and Buffalo City Municipality

association to accelerate regional economic growth 40

9.2.3 Incorporation of other sectors like education, business forums and Local

Economic Development to add value to the holistic macro- economic

programme of the East London IDZ 41

9.2.4 Proper functioning of the Buffalo City Municipality with a strong emphasis on

integrated development 42

9.3 What Can Be Recommended? 43

10. Synopsis of Chapters 46

11. General Conclusion 48

REFERENCES 50

APPENDICES 58

APPENDIX 1: IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 58

APPENDIX 2: PUBLIC QUESTIONNAIRE 60

APPENDIX 3: MAP OF AREA OF STUDY 61

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1.1: Showing administrative changes that have taken place in the Buffalo City. 1

Table 4.1: African trends in governance: 1996-2002 19

Table 5.1: Buffalo City percentage distribution of households by type of main dwelling 21

Table 5.2: Income Statements for Respective Years: 1 July – 30 June 22

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LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 5.1: Municipal Scoreboard 21

Figure 5.2: Populations 2001 and 1996 22

Figure 7.1: East London IDZ timeline with milestone 27

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ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

APS: Anti-Poverty Strategy

ASGISA: Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative South Africa

BBBEE: Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment

BC: Buffalo City

BCDS: Buffalo City Development Strategy

BCEDF: Buffalo City Economic Development Framework

BCITP: Buffalo City Integrated Transport Plan

BCLEDS: Buffalo City Local Economic Development Strategy

BCHP: Buffalo City Housing Policy

BCIDP: Buffalo City Integrated Development Plan

BCIWMP: Buffalo City Integrated Waste Management Plan

BCM: Buffalo City Municipality

BCMM: Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality

BCMP: Buffalo City Management Plan

BCP: Buffalo City Planning

BCSDF: Buffalo City Spatial Development Framework

BCTMP: Buffalo City Tourism Master Plan

BCYDS: Buffalo City Youth Development Strategy

BEE: Black Economic Empowerment

BPO: Business Process Outsourcing

BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

CBD: Central Business District

CEC: Committee for Environmental Co-ordination

CDS: City Development Strategy

CGE: Commission for Gender Equality

CIF: Critical Infrastructure Fund

CIP: Critical Infrastructure Programme

CSA: Customs Secured Areas

CSIR: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

CTPPC: Consulting Town Planning Private Company

DCCS: Duty Credit Certificate Scheme

DSBA: Development Bank South Africa

DEAT: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

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DFA: Development Facilitation Act

DPSA: Department of Public Service and Administration

CSIR: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

DTI: Department of Trade and Industry

DWAF: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry

ECPGDP: Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan

ELCC: East London City Councils

ELIDZ: East London Industrial Development Zone

ELTLC: East London transitional local council

EU: European Union

EPZ: Export Processing Zones

FDI: Foreign Direct Investment

FIG: Foreign Investment Grant

FTZ: Free Trade Zone

FZ: Free Zone

GDP: Gross Domestic Product

GEAR: Growth Employment and Redistribution Strategy

GIS: Geographic Information Systems

HIV: Human Immune Virus

HSRC: Human Science Research Council

IDP: Integrated Development Planning

IDZ: Industrial Development Zones

IMF: International Monetary Fund

IPAP: Industrial Policy Action Plan

ISRDS: Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy

JIPSA: Joint Initiative for the Prioritization of Scarce Skills

JSE: Junior Stock Exchange

KWT: King Williams Town

LED: Local Economic Development

LGSA: Local Government Strategic Agenda

LGTAS: Local Government Turn Around Strategy

LUMP: Land Use Management Plan

MBSA: Mercedes Benz South Africa

MEC: Minerals Energy Complex

MSA: Municipal Systems Act

MURP: Mdantsane Urban Renewal Programme

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NEPAD: New Partnership for Africa’s Development

NGO: Non-Government Organization

NGP: New Growth Path

NIPF: National Industrial Policy Framework

NIPP: National Industrial Participation Programme

NSDP: National Spatial Development Perspective

NSS: National Sector Strategies

PGDS: Provincial Growth Development Strategy

PIDS: Provincial Industrial Development Strategy

PPP: Private-Private Partnerships

PSP: Provincial Skills Plan

PTA: Preferential Trade Agreement

RBIDZ: Richard’s Bay Industrial Development Zone

RDF: Rural Development Framework

RDP: Reconstruction and Development Programme

RIDS: Regional Industrial Development Strategy

SACU: South African Customs Union

SADC: Southern African Development Community

SAHRC: South African Human Rights Commission

SAIP: South African Industrial Policy

SDA: Skills Development Act

SDF: Spatial Development Framework

SDI: Spatial Development Initiatives

SDP: Spatial Development Plan

SEV: Special Economic Zone

SMEDP: Small and Medium Enterprise Development Programme

SMMDP: Small and Medium Manufacturing Development Programme

SMME: Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise

SPV: Special Purpose Vehicle

SSP: Skills Support Programme

STATSSA: Statistics South Africa

STP: Science and Technology Park

STD: Sexually Transmitted Disease

TAS: Turn Around Strategy

THS: Tax Holiday Scheme

TLC: Transitional Local Council

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TB: Tuberculosis

UDS: Urban Development Strategy

UDZ: Umzimvubu Development Zone

WSDP: Water Services Development Plan

WTO: World Trade Organisation

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1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

This chapter of the research seeks to give a background by briefly looking at the history of

the country and the local government we are studying, the Buffalo City Municipality.

Moreover, we will also raise the main arguments of the dissertation, which will later make the

sub-topics in chapter form. The Republic of South Africa has gone from a history of racial

segregation which took effect in 1948 by legislation, to the democratic talks in the year 1990

which gave way to the dawn of democracy that took place in 1994. This transformation took

the country from the economic and social unequal state to an equal state by a process of

truth and reconciliation that healed the wounds of the past (Department of Welfare 2000).

Chikulo adds that “the initial democratic government found itself in a bigger mess than

anticipated” (Chikulo 2003). All spheres of government had to be re-directed to be more

inclusive and solution driven and at the heart of this new change was the Constitution of the

country which gave the country a foundation of a common ground regarding human rights.

This change in governance trickled down to the local municipalities of South Africa including

the Buffalo City Municipality wherefore the graph below gives an overview of how the

municipality evolved over time.

Table 1.1 Showing administrative changes that have taken place in the Buffalo City.

Source: Buffalo City Municipality

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1.2 Area of Study (Frame of Reference)

The reason I chose Buffalo City Municipality is because of the fact that little research has

been done here, whereas it is a diverse area with a high development potential due to its

high population density and availability of infrastructure. I believe that more can be done in

the area to assist the government‟s ambition to raise the economic status of the country.

According to the Buffalo City IDP document “Buffalo City Municipality is found to the centre

of the Eastern Cape Province, and is along the Indian Ocean, the area is approximately 2

515km2 with a coastline of 68 kilometres and a population of 701 895 people” (Buffalo City

Municipality 2010). Buffalo city is a major urban region that runs from East London through

to Mdantsane and reaching Dimbaza on the west, with East London being the primary node

and King Williams Town being the secondary node.

It is in this geographic setting that we find the location of the East London IDZ, in the East

London‟s West Bank of the Buffalo River. As seen in the East London IDZ website “the East

London IDZ is a 1500 hectares piece of land allocated for this intensive programme on the

West Bank of the Buffalo River in the City of East London, its closeness to amenities such as

the N2 national road, the river-port and the airport create good local, national and

international access” (East London IDZ 2011). This IDZ is unique to others in the country as

it focuses on clean industry, thereby having minimal negative effects to the environment of

the East London City. To gain more in-depth knowledge of the area it will be beneficial to go

to the actual Buffalo City Municipal area and ELIDZ site to gain a more detailed picture of the

situation at hand.

1.3 Problem Statement

The research subject as given by the University of Pretoria‟s Town and Regional Planning

department is “strategic and developmental planning”, which is core to the curriculum.

Certainly, the lack of strategic planning, the poor governance and lack of implementation in

local municipalities at present in South Africa is a major challenge and reduces the economic

growth of the country. Also the indicative title given is “an assessment of municipal urban

performance against the background of the initial post 1994 planning policies”, which I have

put in the context of Buffalo City Municipality and with particular interest to the East London

IDZ as a macro-economic strategy in the municipality. Following the transformation in 1994,

various developmental policies and strategies were drafted by all levels of government in

South Africa in-order to promote growth and development in addition to the restructuring of

municipalities to maximise redistribution. Many of the planning advices specifically dealt with

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aspects such as public transport, compaction and densification, spatial integration, poverty

alleviation just to name a few. A majority of municipalities however are still struggling to

properly implement policies and strategies, while urban regions in respected municipalities

have not succeeded in achieving the inclusionary developmental goals that were set in

municipal visions. The objectives of the research are to:

Assess the current municipal urban performance of the Buffalo City region against the

background of the initial post 1994 planning policies; and

To explore existing opportunities of economic upliftment in the region specifically the

association of the Buffalo City Municipality and East London IDZ.

1.4 Research question and sub-problems

Research question:

“Assessing the performance of the Buffalo City municipality in the context of its post 1994

urban planning policies with particular interest to the East London IDZ as a macro-economic

strategy”

Sub-Problems:

1. Sub-problem 1: Looks at the state of local government development policy in South

Africa post 1994. The information will determine if the government is on track with

development in-terms of meeting its goals or if there has been challenges especially with

regard to the municipalities.

2. Sub-problem 2: Seeks to report on the performance of Industrial Development Zones in

South Africa, it will give an economic account about the sector. This will certify the claims

as stated by the DTI that the IDZ‟s in South Africa are doing well.

3. Sub-problem 3: Takes us through the performance of the Buffalo City‟s Municipality in

general to give an account for the present state of affairs. It may help in making us

understand economic performance by looking on the strengths and weaknesses of the

municipality to provide a development environment.

4. Sub-problem 4: Leads us to the actual East London IDZ, in a pursuit to find out about the

operation and also its impact on the greater Buffalo City Municipality‟s economy.

Basically answering the question “Does this massive project have the potential to take

local economic upliftment industriously or continue to undermine the Buffalo City‟s

slothful economic performance?”

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1.5 Objective and Significance of Study

In the present context of the South African government, there is a battle within the local

municipalities and their communities to bring tangible sustainable economic upliftment for

the good of all. Ironically, the national government has always identified the need for

municipalities to be more integrated with the public and taking their views into consideration

as the people will know best as to what challenges they are facing and in what type of way

they prefer to be helped. The legislation of the country clearly shows the government‟s

commitment to its local government development and to name one piece of legislation,

Section 152 of the Constitution states that “the objectives of local government are to provide

democratic and accountable governance, to ensure the provision of services to communities

in a sustainable manner and also the promotion of social and economic development” (The

Republic of South Africa 1996). Therefore the significance of the study is to raise awareness

of the importance of the local government sphere and to further investigate how the public

can be integrated to fully utilise the economic potentials in the municipalities. We will

address this by looking at the macro-economic project that the Buffalo City Municipality

hosts in pursuit of ways of using major development in uplifting the communities in a greater

way than is presently witnessed.

1.6 Concluding Remarks

According to Chikulo “presently in South African governance legislative and institutional

framework has been put in place and that gives an organised context regarding policy,

however in spite of government efforts, a significant number of the masses still find

themselves in greater poverty and an ever increasing percentage is unable to afford access

to basic needs” (Chikulo 2003, p.3). This shows that development in South Africa is still side-

lining the poorest of the poor, and the overemphasised attempts of the government to use

Local Economic Development, to counteract poverty, makes the meaning of LED to be

limited to just utilising obvious skills and resources available to the communities rather than

bringing in skills through global trading mechanisms such as the IDZ programme.

The research will explore South African local government development policy and look at

possibly widening the scope in terms of Local Economic Development and other strategies

of the South African government to involve the communities in economic empowerment.

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2. METHODOLOGY

2.1 Role of the Researcher

My role as the researcher is to do all there is in my power, within the legal parameters, to

give the necessary information needed to answer the research question. Like any study I will

have to look at existing information related to the topic, which in this case is information

about South African policy that has been drafted since 1994, governance of the country

especially since the dawn of democracy, the state of the Buffalo City municipality, national

industrial policy development and performance, the operation of the industrial development

zones and lastly how macro-economics are important to a country and ways of keeping them

worthy. It will take considerable time to carefully look through the sources on the topic and

then use this information to bring context into the topic by citing and referencing in

recognition of the sources used for the research. Further I am responsible in the analysis

and synthesis of all the information gathered to then answer the question with good

understanding.

2.2 Nature of Study

Mainly speaking, the nature of this research is a case study and this shapes its path from

other studies of related subjects. According to Dul and Hak “a case study research is strictly

an exploratory research strategy that often leads to the alleged impossibility to generalize,

and as a qualitative research it is different from other types of research as it has intensive

analyses and descriptions of a system bounded by space and time” (Dul & Hak 2008, p.32-

35). Regarding interviews it seems there are various structures of putting together questions

and in this research we will look at structured questions with an approach to allow for more

information to be received. Moreover as noted from Hancock & Algozzine “the researcher is

the primary instrument for data collection and (s)he must spend significant amounts of time

in the environment being studied” (Hancock & Algozzine 2006, p.7). With the nature of study

for the research clear, we can now look into using the information we have gathered to then

implementing the research with confidence.

This research topic needs to be conveyed in the manner of a qualitative research in-order to

answer issues of governance and policy. However numerical information like statistics is

useful in giving a stronger picture of scenarios and will be valuable for this research. It has

been noted by Algozzine and Hancock that a particularly useful organizing framework for

beginning researchers involves “understanding the differences between qualitative and

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quantitative research, and that the choice may be influenced by availability of time and

resources” (Algozzine & Hancock 2006). A qualitative approach requires more dialogue

based way of gathering information and public questionnaires that are longer and more

complex to get better information from people. Although the sources used in the literature

review give enough information, considerable time and patience is required to adequately

get through to the research answer.

Although Dul and Hak have pointed out that “when the research is quantitative in nature it

tends to be finished quicker”, hence we will use a qualitative approach on this study and thus

use more time (Dul J & Hak T. 2008). Also it is clear that most researchers prefer to do

individual interviews rather than using group sessions in pursuit of straight forward answers

as groups will tend to be uncontrollable and can steer the session to another direction.

Hancock & Algozzine have added that “the relationship of the researcher to those being

studied is a factor, and that in qualitative research the goal is to understand the situation

under investigation primarily from the participants” (Hancock & Algozzine 2006, p.8). This

certainly is useful advice and it makes the researcher to be more aware of the people he is

working with which should make for an effective session.

2.3 Limitations and Delimitations

There are quite a number of limitations and delimitations regarding the study and they are

mainly based on the nature of the research being that of a mini-dissertation and therefore

not covering a comprehensive study as a Masters or Phd. Limitations to the research include

my personal capabilities in research as a fourth year student, financial constraints that made

me to cut down on a lot of travelling to other municipalities and other IDZ‟s in the country,

time constraints as the research is done in a set time with a deadline and lastly the lack of in-

depth information about South African Industrial Development Zones. All these made me to

have limited resources to embark on this study and I had to be strategic about the resources

at my disposal so as to fully use them without waste.

Delimitations to the research included making the study to focus on one district municipality

namely the Buffalo City Municipality whereas I could have looked at other municipalities with

their economic development schemes. Also the fact that I chose to focus on one Industrial

Development Zone, namely the East London made another delimitation. Further

delimitations are that I only interviewed 4 professionals in the related sectors and lastly that I

did 21 questionnaires with the public from within the Buffalo City Municipal area. As Leedy

and Ormrod point out “problems pertaining to research tend to emerge from larger contexts

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and larger problem areas covered in the study” resulting in a loss of sense about the

research hence why I decided to basically stick within reachable bounds of the research

(Leedy & Ormrod 2010, p57).

2.4 Data Collection Method and Analysis Strategies

Following the literature review chapter is the chapters containing subtopics. It‟s in these

“subtopic” chapters that I will go deeper into the particular matters discovered in the literature

review. The subtopics will also use sources that are linked to the issues so as to thoroughly

acquire knowledge about the matters holistically. The literature review and subtopic chapters

will then set the foundation of the questions to be put together for the interviews and

questionnaires of the study. Conveying the interviews is then going to be made easier as I

will have more background information about the subject.

As already established earlier that this research is a case study, there was a programme that

had to be drafted to guide the study where it made sure that I was on track to implement the

processes in a logical sequence. Basically the process is the studying of the Buffalo City

Municipality and East London IDZ within a South African policy context, studying industrial

development in the global sense, then engaging with people from most related sectors even

the general public of Buffalo City to acquire more information and lastly the analysis and

synthesis of all the data. The data collection method is broken down into the following ways:

a. In-depth interview sessions, where personnel were selected carefully from the

various sectors and departments that are closely related to the Buffalo City Municipality and

the East London IDZ so as to acquire appropriate knowledge. The sectors consulted are the

Buffalo City Planning department, Consulting Town Planning Private Company, the East

London IDZ and the Daily Dispatch newspaper.

b. Public questionnaire sessions that gave a general public perception about the areas

looked at by the study. The form of questionnaires in table format will be given to random

people to answer.

c. Hard copy documents containing previous research, books, reviews, records and

other material will be looked at in-order to get more in-depth information on the study.

d. Electronic soft data in the form of online journals, books, articles and reviews will also

be consulted to add to the study.

The various stakeholders that are consulted in this process are the following:

1. Mr Raymond Foster, Buffalo City Municipality, Branch Planner-Forward Planning.

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2. Mr Kreason Naidoo, Tshami Consulting cc.

3. Mr Ray Hartle, Development Reporter-IDZ, Daily Dispatch Newspaper.

4. Mr Mabindla, Stakeholder Relations Specialist, East London IDZ.

5. The 21 Buffalo City residents, that were randomly selected (Aviwe Newuzayo,

Andisiwe Gobeni, Ndiphiwe Mdingi, Nani Nwabisa, Thandile Baliso, Siseko Tose, Gcina

Mntonga, Thobuxolo Yeko, Tobile Faniswa, Mangaliso Madubela, Diana Nabasirye, Asanda

Sululu, Lulama Sigonela, Soso Siyabonga, Zikhona Bhengu, Lelethu Delanto, Onika Nteyi,

Phandulwazi Mqhayi, Lwandiso Ndzendewu, Siyanda Toyi).

Lastly, the use of statistical information is of utmost importance as it gives a more

quantitative picture. By consulting sources such as STATSSA and the Buffalo City IDP to

name a few, made it possible to give a more notable account to the study and all these will

be further analysed and fitted into the study. Its important to clarify that as much as the study

is qualitative in nature, it is however not limited to qualitative info, quantities will give a better

perspective to things such as demographics and financial indicators.

2.5 Time Frame

The research study started in the first semester of the year 2011 according to the academic

programme of the University of Pretoria and is set to be concluded by Ocober 2012. Which

will give the research a time frame of roughly 19 months to be initiated, processed and

concluded in the report document that we have today.

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3. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

3.1 Introduction

In this chapter of the study we are going to look at existing work related to the topic and

focus more on what the authors are saying whereby we also give them credit for their effort.

As mentioned earlier the sources come with all different angles and this helps the study to

have well argued content. The subjects that we will look at mainly include national and local

government post-1994 policy, legislation and development strategies. As stated by

Schneider & Ingram “the importance of policy is such that it forms the backbone of

organisations and structures in a steering way of what has to be achieved and how it can be

achieved” (Schneider & Ingram 1997). Because policy has such an important role to play it

isn‟t hard to imagine that most of what we see and know has been derived from it (Easton

1965, p.12).

The driving force of South African policy is the legislation whereby most of it is contained in

the Constitution of the country. The Constitution guides development in South Africa and by

employing a democratic context it creates a just and fair situation in pursuit of a state

whereby there is equality and poverty is eradicated. A challenge to the country is found in

the policy process whereby there are good policies set in place but there is a gap between

formulation and implementation. This chapter will look at all angles regarding the

effectiveness of policy and legislation in the quest to point out all problems without partiality.

This will be done by pointing out all policy and legislation pertaining to the development of

the Buffalo City Municipality and the Industrial Development Zone.

3.2 Post 1994 South African Policies

3.2.1 A Rationale

South African policy since the dawn of democracy has gone through transitional phases in a

„modify-as-we-go‟ path to get to where we are today. Initially, in the first decade policies

were a direct response to racial degradation and focused more on uplifting the poor by

massive infrastructure developments. The Reconstruction and Development Programme

was the vehicle used for various socio-economic commitments to be targeted and set out.

The next five years was then driven by GDP based development, the Growth Employment

and Redistribution Strategy, which did not completely depart from earlier government policy

but committed government to accelerating aspects of existing policy. GEAR was more

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macro-economic oriented and identified the importance of global performance in the

upliftment of the country. Then in this current phase we have sustainable integrated

development which is slightly broader but inclusive in its development, also there is a

merging of micro-economic and macro-economic strategies by introducing Local Economic

Development to global markets for international trade. The above gives an account of the

position we find ourselves today and also sheds light as to what major changes the country

has gone through. Following are pieces of policy that relate to our topic.

3.2.2 The National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP)

This NSDP policy gives a spatial perspective to development on a national level. It has been

identified by the government that the development of spaces needs to be a national concern

so as to group similar services together conveniently and to also ensure variety by balancing

special services. The national plan is then adopted by provincial government which in turn

allocates the goals to local government. Moreover, government shares that “through the set

of five normative principles the NSDP gives a more clear picture of what has to be done,

how it has to be done, and what institutions have to be employed” (Republic of South Africa

2006). The NSDP is a strategy that is well aware of all changes in the country including

economical demographics and tries by all means to keep cultivate sustainable growth.

3.2.3 The Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative South Africa (ASGISA)

This policy is more economical than spatial and then tends to be complex for a lay person,

however its importance cannot be stressed enough. The government has seen the

importance of grooming global approaches to development so that entrepreneurs can have

greater doors open to them and go beyond a welfare state mentality. ASGISA‟s

implementation programme aims to “strengthen growth by looking at economic indicators of

regions and most importantly the country‟s GDP and with initiatives like BBBEE, JIPSA and

IDZ the industrial sector has been made to be a reachable market for the South Africans”

(Republic of South Africa 2005). It is by ASGISA that IDZ was given birth and like any

growing structure out there, successes and failures are inevitable. Hopefully this research

can then make a positive contribution to improve the ELIDZ‟s performance.

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3.3 Buffalo City Municipality Post 1994 Policies

3.3.1 A Rationale

Buffalo City Municipality as a local government body of South Africa is at the grass-root level

of the government‟s development vision. It is then trusted with the role of facilitating service

deliveries to the public on the region on behalf of national government. The existence of an

Industrial Development Zone to the municipal area adds more duty to the municipality in a

way that demands special attention. Ideally speaking any municipality that hosts a

development like the IDZ should take advantage of the opportunity to uplift it‟s regions‟

economic status. This segment of the literature review explores the Buffalo City Municipal

policies to assess their position with the East London IDZ.

3.3.2 The Buffalo City Integrated Development Plan (BCIDP)

The Buffalo City Municipality IDP document is the bible of the municipality and has been

obligated by the Municipal Systems Act of 2000 to be a document “that guides development

and combines all previously separated strategies into a single document with the same

vision, challenges and imperatives” (Buffalo City Municipality 2010). The BCIDP is a well

informative document and shows all the information regarding the Buffalo City area.

Generally speaking there is a spotted mention of the ELIDZ throughout the BCIDP but it

would have been to the advantage of the municipality to have an IDZ subheading to grow

interest about the project and to further attract local business people who might be interested

in investing.

3.3.3 The Buffalo City Spatial Development Framework (BCSDF)

The Buffalo City SDF is an offspring of the National Spatial Development Framework due to

its spatial nature. Judging from the Buffalo City IDP document the municipality has a well-

planned spatial plan which looks at all land uses in a sustainable way. The East London

IDZ‟s land use can also be identified in the SDF and as can be seen it falls under the

industrial area of the City of East London. This shows that the BCM has a concrete vision

and that it is abiding by the country‟s legislative requirements.

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3.3.4 The Buffalo City Development Strategy (BCDS)

The Buffalo City CDS Strategy is a 20-25 year long term development plan of the BCM. It is

the main stimulus for development in the region of Buffalo City. As the Strategy is influenced

by the City‟s vision and the SA Cities Network it is not a surprise that the CDS has the four

pillars it focuses on. They are Sustainable City, Inclusive City, Well-Governed City and

Productive City. The Productive City pillar concerns itself with the economic matters of the

BCM and the East London IDZ as an economic venture will certainly receive more direction

from this pillar. Moreover the Buffalo City CDS strives on being dynamic and relevant to the

municipality with current projects like the Mdantsane urban Renewal Programme executing

this mandate.

3.3.5 The Buffalo City Local Economic Development Strategy (BCLEDS)

The Local Economic Development Strategy of the Buffalo City is a 5 year plan that is

concerned with economic progress of communities in the Buffalo City region. In the past

decade the South African government has invested in research concerning Local Economic

Development in recreation of micro-economic opportunities for the general public to ease the

pressure of job creation from the government. The BCLEDS is well aware that all

stakeholders in the region are important in realising the goal intended by the BCLEDS,

however it would have been great to see a collaboration with the East London IDZ.

3.3.6 The Buffalo City Youth Development Strategy (BCYDS)

Any future driven system will acknowledge the crucial role youth play in forward planning to

ensure that the visions and long term strategies are applied and achieved. This is achieved

in empowering the youth now so that in the future they will be clued up and in-line with the

passion of the city. As stipulated in the IDP document, “the municipality is committed to

engaging with youth to work towards a strategy for their development” (Buffalo City

Municipality 2010, p.287). This shows that the youth is regarded as an understandable part

of society in the municipality whereby their contribution is considered. Since this strategy is

still in planning phase we did not find out if it integrates the East London IDZ or not.

3.3.7 The Buffalo City Integrated Transport Plan (BCITP)

With a municipality such as the Buffalo City, whereby transport networks are in high access

it is pleasing to know that there is an Integrated Transport Plan to manage and maintain the

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transport infrastructure. The Transport Plan will help to lessen traffic congestion at all road

levels so that people and goods are transported efficiently and safely. The Transport Plan

has been put together as mandated by The National Land Transport Transition Act 22 of

2000 (Buffalo City Municipality 2010, p.290). Buffalo City is well aware of the economic

importance of the transport infrastructure within the region as seen with through vehicles,

such as vehicles going to the West Bank industrial area and port, airport and also IDZ.

According to the IDP, “there are talks about a need for another bridge in the future to

connect Mdantsane and the West Bank area”, which might help in increasing access to the

IDZ site (Buffalo City Municipality 2010, p.294).

3.3.8 Buffalo City Integrated Environment Management Plan (BCIEMP)

Following numerous global environmental conventions such as Local Agenda 21 in Brazil,

Buffalo City Municipality has embarked on a strategy to take environmental sustainability

seriously. The diversity of fauna and flora in the region has made this plan to be bigger and

slightly complex compared to other municipalities. It is from this context that the municipality

has then embarked on environmental awareness campaigns which strengthened

environmental decorum particularly to developments like the East London IDZ (Buffalo City

Municipality 2010, p.297). The ELIDZ boasts minimal negative effects to the environment as

it is focused on clean industry which is mostly electronic based than mining and

manufacturing of other IDZ‟s in the country.

3.3.9 Buffalo City Integrated Waste Management Plan (BCIWMP)

As found in the Buffalo City IDP document, there is a Waste Management Plan that is in

place for the management of waste formed in the city to further strengthen environmental

sustainability. A region such as the Buffalo City is highly populated and a refusal system has

to be proper. Guided by the Constitution of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, Section 152,

“which sets out that development must not only focus on socio-economics aspects but also

on sustainability to keep a good life standard for the people at large” (Buffalo City

Municipality 2010, p.297).

3.3.10 Buffalo City Management Plan (BCMP)

This plan is particularly concerned with the management of disasters within the Buffalo City

region. According to the IDP document the City has all emergency systems in place to deal

with all sorts of disaster from fires, to floods and accidents. At the backbone of the Plan lies

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the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002 which provides guidelines and principles to be

followed to ensure readiness from nature‟s unpredictable trials. This is remarkable as it

shows that the municipality is also ready to deal with whatever setbacks that arise in the

ELIDZ site.

3.3.11 Buffalo City Turnaround Strategy

This strategy found in the Buffalo City IDP document is influenced by the Cooperative

Governance and Traditional Affairs Department of South Africa, and is based on issues

regarding the structures of municipalities and also the changes that the South African

government wants to see regarding the local municipalities. It is avoiding the generalised

viewpoint upon local government by taking into consideration each municipality‟s unique

characteristics to the provision of services. With that said, the East London IDZ comes as a

major unique development of the Buffalo City municipality and it should be given the

necessary attention and support so as to reap its fruits for the greater Buffalo City

Community at large.

3.3.12 Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan (ECPGDP)

Provincial government as a connection between National and Local governments, has the

advantage of getting the national perspective and also knowledge of the Local

municipalities. This somehow becomes a mediatory role to ensure that municipalities are in

touch with national vision. This particular plan, as seen in the Buffalo City IDP focuses on

growth and development from a provincial perspective in a way that encourages

developments like the ELIDZ to highly succeed.

3.4 Buffalo City Planning Related Legislation

3.4.1 A Rationale

Legislation is a crucial component to any system as it demonstrates propositions to be

followed. Since it involves legal structures, its misuse calls for penalty. The importance of

legislation to any level of government in South Africa is to put a sense of urgency to the

municipality to produce growth. To the Buffalo City municipality legislation is key in putting

the foundation of how the city should be run by making sure that all necessary legal

necessities are followed and executed to then go into respected policies and plans. The

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country‟s legislation has a developmental imperative and is based on democratic principles

which inspire municipalities to follow on. On this fragment of the literature review we are

going to look at legislation that is used by the Buffalo City municipality that heartens major

developments like the East London IDZ to be in place. This can help us to see the legislative

role to be played in economic upliftment of the Buffalo City region.

3.4.2 The Development Facilitation Act of 1995 (DFA)

Following the commemoration of the democratic government in South Africa, it was crucial

for government to bring a flexible way of conveying development under the developmental

context of the new government. The Development Facilitation Act is to ensure that

development is strongly facilitated and that it is well understood within all levels of

government so that all structures should be obliged to be developmental. The Act

accommodates relationships between the BCM and development agencies such as the IDZ,

IDC and other related stakeholders to bring development to region.

3.4.3 The Skills Development Act of 1998 (SDA)

The government has through research over the years, after 1994, discovered that low

economic status in many black societies is directly associated with education and the

availability of skills. It was also learned that because of low skills output people were not

employable as needed to gain economic power and hence why the Skills Development Act

was put in place (The Republic of South Africa 1998). As the Act focuses on skills

development it requires all corporations and organizations in the public or private sector to

cultivate an environment of skills development for the greater development of the country.

The IDZ project under the Buffalo City Municipality is surely a way of increasing skills

shortage in the Buffalo City Region to empower people for economic opportunities.

3.5 The Industrial Development Zone and related policies

3.5.1 A Rationale

In South Africa, the Industrial Development Zones, IDZs, are part of an initiative by the

Department of Trade and Industry to bring major economic upliftment and to boost the

country‟s GDP. This is done by taking a macro-economic approach to development and

investment in looking into exporting and importing of goods with the international markets.

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Like any project the IDZ has policy that drives it and in this section we will look at what these

policies imply and how should they be implemented.

3.5.2 The Eastern Cape Provincial Industrial Development Strategy (ECPIDS)

The Eastern Cape Province is fortunate to house two of the country‟s four IDZs, with one in

Coega-PE and the other in East London. Even though these Eastern Cape IDZs differ in

character one to the other they still fall under the industrial umbrella wherefore the Provincial

Industrial Development Strategy gives a growth path that should be followed by these IDZs

within the Eastern Cape Province. The Strategy is led by the National Industrial Policy

Framework which puts the industrial sector in a developmental path of the national

government vision (The Eastern Cape Provincial Government 2010). The policy is well

aware of skills development and in the Buffalo City all the Industrial areas are guided by it.

3.5.3 The National Industrial Policy Action Plan 2011/12 – 2013/14 (IPAP-II)

This plan unites the NGP, NIPF and ASGISA to be more coherent in order to put better job

output and more accelerated economic growth path. With quantitative goals the plan urges

industrial processes to deliver on job opportunities and economic upliftment. It is within this

urgent context that the IDZ has been constituted as can be seen in its timeline. Because of

the IPAP-II the East London IDZ is designed with a more rapid and accelerated growth

character so as to achieve economic success at a short space of time than other projects of

its calibre in the country and greater African continent.

3.6 South African Governance in General

3.6.1 A Rationale

Regarding the South African government, Sokhela has classified relations between

governmental bodies into three basic categories namely “intergovernmental,

intragovernmental and extragovernmental relations” (Sokhela 2006, p.6), wherefore

intragovernmental relations refer to the relations within governmental bodies,

extragovernmental relations occurring between governmental bodies and external

institutions, and then lastly intergovernmental relations among the various governmental

bodies at the various horizontal and vertical levels (Sokhela 2006). It goes without saying

that the manner in which these governmental bodies conduct their relations will have an

impact on the delivery of services to the communities and it is therefore critical that they

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conduct themselves within the spirit of the Constitution. South African government‟s

response to the governance problem has led to the Local Government Turn Around Strategy

which was presented to the parliament at the end of 2009, bringing some changes and

different approaches to local governance (The Republic of South Africa 2010). The strategy

has been looking at proportioning national government support towards local government

according to unique needs and structure of each particular local government, which has

been previously played out by the so called „one size fits all‟ approach to municipalities.

3.6.2 Governance of Local Municipalities

As commonly known, local government can be stated as the lowest level of government

which serves as a regionalized institution with specific tasks delegated to it by a higher tier of

government, like national government, within a geographical area. In South Africa, local

government has powers derived from The Constitution of the country implying that

municipalities have set mandates that are demanded by law (The Republic of South Africa

1996). Nyamukachi has also further clarified that “the term local government refers to a

sphere of government and not to an individual municipality, whereby the sum of all individual

municipalities make up the collective sphere known as local government created for the

whole of South Africa to render services in specific geographical area/locality/jurisdiction”

(Nyamukachi 2004, p.17). The context of institutional capacity both inside and outside of

government is also important in order to advise and support rights-holders in a sound

manner. Moreover, Roodt has outlined that there are various NGO‟s available to assist right-

holders and disadvantaged people, in realising their rights whereby municipalities are no

exception (Roodt 2008, p.1). This shows the government‟s dedication to a developmental

context of government is unbiased to sphere of governance.

Internationally speaking Leftwhich pronounces that “the West may be said to have a genuine

preference for liberal democracy and due to the advancement of civil and human rights, until

recently western governments, the World Bank and the IMF have displayed no serious or

consistent interest in promoting either good governance or democracy” (Leftwhich 1993,

p.605-612). It goes without saying that systems of governance and surely planning as a

profession in South Africa have been inherited from the Western and European Countries

whereby the changes in the western communities have also been experienced here at a

later stage. Taylor in his articles raises “3 paradigm shifts that have taken place in Anglo-

American planning since 1945 with the first one showing how planning went from a creative

design to a scientific analyst and rational decision making, the second one looks at how

planning went from a technical expertise to the planner as a manager and communicator in

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the 1960s by applying values and social norms, the third looks at the shift from modernist

planning theory to post-modern planning theory, which is mostly a bold and new approach”

(Taylor 1999, p.328-339). Our current context of planning and running of municipalities in

South Africa today is taken from this foundation which takes into consideration that to every

region are unique shaping characteristics that give a different situational aspect.

3.7 Concluding Remarks

The global society is experiencing economic difficulties and this in a way is opening markets

for emerging countries like South Africa which also is a member of the G-20 countries,

whereby the capital infrastructure programme employed by the country offers significant

potential for job creation, as do services and construction. This shows a good environment

for governments in the Southern hemisphere to spread their parameters beyond their

borders in a way that will shape stable economic growth. In conclusion of the whole literature

review chapter, we can safely say that policy in South Africa is by no means a new or a

foreign concept. The country‟s democracy is standing on the foundations of all types of

policy from Colonial, Apartheid and recently Democratic eras and that creates the unique

element of the country. The country‟s national policy which we have covered is sound with

broad goals ensuring unilateral growth to give clear objectives of what should be done.

On the Provincial front, the Eastern Cape‟s industrial policy is also in line with national

government and aspires to stay in line with national goals and aims. The Buffalo City‟s

policies also continue on the developmental vision in response to the National Governments

policy, whereby the proper application of the policy process will ensure that the right policies

are implemented at the right time and for the right reasons to also render accountability

where necessary. Also from the various plans and strategies of the Buffalo City as

mentioned in the IDP document, we can see how integrated the municipality is and how the

united vision is being used in realising its development imperatives. Lastly from this chapter

it seems that development is successful when conveyed in a multi-government layered and

integrated manner whereby various stakeholders are to be consulted, to fully achieve a

holistic growth pattern of the municipality. According to legislation, each and every

municipality in South Africa is responsible for the identification of its unique issues so as to

avoid taking for granted issues that may slow down growth, in a way that may raise doubts

of incompetence or corruption for municipalities by national government.

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4. THE STATE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT POLICY IN SOUTH AFRICA

POST 1994

With the dawn of democracy in 1994, the South African government had to go through major

changes, from previous Bantustans and four provinces, municipalities as the forefronts for

development were the places where the pressure was put. This pressure came from both

sides whereby on the one side the national government expected the municipalities to do

well by fulfilling all the goals that were put in place in the time frame provided and also

pressure from inhabitants of the municipal areas to receive the promised services and

infrastructure they were now entitled to by right. Slowly with time this made the state of the

municipalities to change with time as the areas evolved and economic situations of people

converted. This then led to certain geographical changes within municipalities either to

expand or to contract based on the need at the time. This principle led to the present state of

the country whereby the country‟s administrative divisions is found in nine provinces, then

below that are eight metropolitan municipalities, forty-four district municipalities and 226 local

municipalities all carrying out governments plan of action (The Republic of South Africa

2010).

The new local government policy in South Africa has transformed the municipalities whereby

the public participation process of governance is steering the municipalities to greater

heights. The only snag that most political analysts raise to our government problems are the

issues of party politics, the joint control of municipalities by political and professional

appointments and lastly corruption. These are common problems that are experienced in

democratic states whereby relating to Africa the UN report on Africa (2003) shows general

democratic progress for the continent. Moreover, in the graph below we can see that the

issue of government effectiveness is a battle and this can be understood in the light of the

post-colonialism and other impediments to development in African countries.

Table 4.1: African trends in governance: 1996-2002

Indicator 1996 1998 2000 2002

Voice and Accountability 0.41 0.42 0.42 0.46

Political Stability 0.55 0.53 0.58 0.55

Government effectiveness 0.41 0.47 0.46 0.41

Regulatory quality 0.51 0.58 0.59 0.58

Rule of Law 0.50 0.53 0.51 0.54

Control of Corruption 0.37 0.37 0.36 0.38

Source: United Nations 2003

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An interesting matter with this graph is the show of increase in the anti-corruption spirit of

African countries to the awakening of detrimental effects of corruption to drive of

development. South Africa is unyielding about this issue and is improving its actions against

corruption by the day wherefore a tip-off telephonic hotline has been initiated to report

corruption in government. This then makes South Africa to be a country that leads the rest of

Africa in terms of innovation and development to governance, as the countries‟ reports

suggest. With the new approach to municipal management, the South African government

has then identified the importance of the planning profession to the transition and realisation

of the developmental local sphere as anticipated, particularly strategic planning. Kelly and

Riverbark explain that theoretically speaking, strategic planning is a strict way to achieve

goals and actions in a given space of time to ensure equitable service delivery (Kelly &

Riverbark 2011:57). Planning as a profession is equipped to deal with challenges

experienced in municipalities and with this Healey and Robinson have raised that in relation

to governance, the ideology of development is posing a threat to political democracy (Healey

& Robinson 1992:96). This can also explain the difficulties that are experienced in South

African municipalities between qualified appointments and political appointments, as there

seems to be a break in communication about development between the professionals that

have been serving for years in the municipalities and political appointments that change

every government term.

In response to above, the South African Department of Cooperative Governance aims to

give more support to municipalities in a holistic way, from the financial management of

accounts and budgets to all operations conveyed (The Republic of South Africa 2009).

Moreover, the South African government has recognised the development potential of LED

in the local economies and aims to look at development in this subject with more attention.

Indeed South Africa since 1994 has come a long way and this chapter has shown how

developments have taken place in the municipalities, putting this level of governance in the

developmental context we find it today. The banner has to be taken further to the actual

realisation of the developed local governments we aspire for as stated in the visions of the

various documents in the country, while with a lack of stable governance in most

municipalities this should take longer than necessary. With this said, the state of local

government development in South Africa is satisfactory and getting better to catch up to

global standards for effective local governance.

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5. THE PERFOMANCE OF THE BUFFALO CITY MUNICIPALITY

The subject of municipal performance is slightly intricate as it looks at many variables to

asses good performance, also from what the South African government has comprehended

is that each and every municipality has strong and weak areas that are unique to other

municipalities. Looking at the case of Buffalo City Municipality, Haydam, Nuntsu and

Tassiopoulos add that “the municipality forms a pivotal point in the Eastern Cape Province,

with its strategic and geographic positioning to the rest of the province and the country at

large” (Haydam, Nuntsu & Tassiopoulos 2003). As further highlighted by the Buffalo City

IDP, the coastal area, the game reserves in close proximity and the Amatola mountain range

found in the Buffalo City region enhance its character in a way that makes it a good spot for

tourism and naturalistic development (Buffalo City Municipality 2010). The Buffalo City

Municipality is the sixth largest economic centre in the country and this simulates a certain

expectation to its performance to other municipalities nearby to it.

In pursuit of maintaining good performance the Buffalo City Municipality has adopted the

Municipal Scorecard, MS system to help manage the municipality. The way the system

works is such that indicators are grouped together into five perspectives such as costs,

inputs, outputs, outcomes and process as shown in figure 5.1. below. The MS system is

gearing the municipality to the stable direction it visualizes as it considers all the elements

needed to ensure a good functioning municipality (Buffalo City Municipality 2010:242).

Figure 5.1 Municipal Scoreboard

Source: Buffalo City IDP 2010/2011

AA

FinancialManagementPerspective

ServiceDelivery

Perspective

MunicipalDevelopmentPerspective

Governance Process Perspective

The Municipal Organisation

The Municipal Area

Source : Palmer Development Group (2006)Source : Palmer Development Group (2006)

Process

OutcomesOutputs

InstitutionalDevelopment

Perspective

Costs Inputs

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Additionally, the graph below gives us a demographic account of the Municipality in-terms of

which area has grown or declined by the number of persons with the two censuses of 1996

and 2001. Generally speaking the municipality has increased in population numbers and

major growth has been noticed in the East London area. Therefore, regarding the population

the city is progressing gently and this might be an alarm to the municipality to upgrade

infrastructure to meet these ever increasing demographic demands.

Figure 5.2 Populations 2001 & 1996

Source: Buffalo City IDP 2010/2011

Regarding the economic performance of the municipality, the Buffalo City‟s IDP document

gives us an overview of the municipal area by looking at the three dominant land use

patterns available, with the first being the dominant industrial and services area which

provides jobs to people from East London to the Dimbaza area, although this land use is

doing well it can do better by more integration with private companies for more Local

Economic Development. The second land use is the peri-urban and rural areas which are

dominant in intensive farming that have been doing extensively well in boosting emerging

farms as identified in the Stutterheim area. The Third land use is the commercial farming

areas which look at irrigation based farming.

Concerning the provision of services and infrastructure performance in the Buffalo City Local

Municipality, good results can be appreciated. There has been an increase in privately

owned single-stand brick-laid houses and this has seen to the decrease of the shacks in

most areas. The increase in electricity usage in the BCM has also seen to the decrease of

paraffin usage whereby improving the safety of the households. Piped water has increased

Population 2001 & 1996 (Census)

0

50 000

100 000

150 000

200 000

250 000

KWT &

Surro

unds

East London A

rea

Mdants

ane Are

a

Rural S

outh

Rural N

orth

Area

Num

ber

of p

eopl

e

2001

1996

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and that has decreased public water access points, in addition to this more water-based

ablution facilities have been increasingly installed for the people of Buffalo City. Lastly, the

disposal of solid waste has increased and that puts pressure on the available landfill on the

area (Buffalo City Municipality 2010:30).

Looking at the standard of life and health in the Buffalo City Municipality we see a general

improvement although an issue that is a major threat is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The

municipality has strategies that look at HIV/AIDS so as not to undermine its consequences

on the overall performance of the municipality (Buffalo City Municipality 2010:32). In the area

of women development changes have been seen in the municipality as there is a policy that

prompts women to be represented in all ward committees to strengthen gender equality.

Also youth development is a key issue in the area and it has been played out by various

sport partnerships and ways to involve the youth in productive activities (Buffalo City

Municipality 2010:36). The Buffalo City IDP further looks at the issue of child headed homes

and vulnerable children, which unfortunately is on the increase in the area due to the

HIV/AIDS pandemic. Relating to disability, the BCM Disability Strategy and Policy was

launched in 2007 to quicken the process of integrating disabled people within the

municipality, this shows a municipality which is committed to engaging the public holistically.

According to the State of the Cities Report, 2006, “only 1.2 percent of the BCM population

possesses a university degree whilst 16.2 percent have no schooling at all” (The Republic of

South Africa 2006). This is a challenge to the region and requires the municipality to look at

ways of improving the education situation in the Buffalo City region. Moreover, the 2001

BCM Quality Of Life survey shows that 58.7 percent of youth state that unemployment is a

main reason for dissatisfaction with life in general (Buffalo City Municipality 2010:37). This is

a call for the municipality to integrate the youth into the economic sector and major projects

like the IDZ should provide a worthy platform to acquire development.

In conclusion of the matter we can see that the municipality is surely pulling all the stops to

acquire its development vision to the Buffalo City region at large. The municipality is

performing well generally speaking but there will have to be more pressure put on stake

holders to be involved so that more rapid development is realised in the times anticipated.

With the upgrade to the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, the local government has a

solid foundation of the context of the municipality and minimal changes have to be done in-

order to maintain a positive growth record.

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6. THE STATE OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ZONES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Currently in South Africa and the rest of Africa, industrial development is a stagnant

endeavour where very little is known about how to invest in this field and also making the

natural resources available to uplift economies. As in most sectors in the African continent,

South Africa is taking the lead in industrial development and continues to innovate according

to global standards. Furthermore the South African Yearbook states that “South Africa‟s

participation in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will give local firms

expanded access to fast-growing markets and investment opportunities, and strengthen

beneficial trade links for the African continent at large” (The Republic of South Africa 2010).

This shows the important role that South Africa is playing to the rest of the African continent.

With the dawn of democracy and the end to sanctions which were enforced to the country‟s

former Apartheid regime, South Africa looked at macro-economic ways of building a nation

with a steep economic imbalance and poor global trade. Following this imbalance was the

stabilizing of economic conditions after strict fiscal policies and irregular inflations to take the

country out of debt. As pointed by Tang, “strategies like the Trade Liberalisation with the

World Trade Organisation in 1993 and the free major trade agreements with the European

Union and Southern African Development Community boosted our global trade as it gave

the country a platform and exposure” (Tang 2008). All these were advances the country

needed after economic isolation to drastically boost growth. Still today, the commodity

exporters in the country continue to profit from high prices to help benefit the economy of

South Africa, whereby taking advantage of such opportunities is essential in progressing to

the ambitious job-creation targets set out in the South African Government‟s New Growth

Path.

In South Africa, the establishment of IDZs is a recent phenomenon that seeks to uplift

investment opportunities, increase global trade and put South African products on the global

map. There are currently four IDZ‟s in the country located in Port Elizabeth, East London,

Richards Bay and lastly OR Tambo International Airport (The Republic of South Africa 2010).

All these IDZ‟s have unique characteristics and are fully operational although they are all

evolving in their operations. The IDZ policy that South Africa has should be useful for our

country to partake in this global field. As Identified in the National Industrial Policy

Framework there are various challenges to the development of the industrial economy such

as “the issues relating to space, the dominant middle income population that is based on the

small domestic market, vulnerability of the recourse intensive economy to commodities, high

global competitiveness, global trading systems” and in-spite of these problems the industrial

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sector is still growing (Republic of South Africa 2010, p.16). Also in the midst of obstructions

relating to trade in South Africa, Neuland and Venter show that “manufacturing is well

developed and with the rising importance of tertiary industry, which presently accounts for 64

percent of total value-added in 2003 compared with 50 percent in 1990”, a new direction in

industrial development is definitely setting in the country (Neuland & Venter 2005, p.96).

Also the National Industrial Policy Framework of South Africa has helped ASGISA in

achieving its goals of accelerating GDP growth to over six percent by 2010 and to halving

unemployment and poverty by 2014 and the further intensification of industrialisation

towards a knowledge economy beyond 2014 whereby IDZ is key (The Republic of South

Africa 2010).

Looking closely at the IDZ‟s, the Coega IDZ is known to be the largest zone-project where

the government has spent about “R8 billion in developing it, with R3.1 billion for a new deep-

water port, R2 billion for infrastructure, R2.1 billion by the State electricity Eskom to upgrade

the power supply and the State rail, whereby Transnet‟s contribution is estimated at

R500million for the upgrade of the rail facilities” (Coega 2008, p.19). Then following is the

East London IDZ covering 430 hectares and is the country‟s first operational zone with fully

developed infrastructure and operating firms estimated at a worth of over R200 million. The

Richards Bay and Gauteng IDZs are still under realization and poor information is available

to compare with the other IDZ‟s in the country. According to Tang, since 2008 “the East

London IDZ has managed to perform better than the Coega IDZ in attracting investors,

however on investment value the Coega IDZ outperforms the East London IDZ where the

Coega IDZ is estimated at around R30billion compared to R920million for the East London

IDZ” (Tang 2008, p.7).

Globally speaking Aggarwal suggests that “if EPZs are located in backward areas with poor

social and economic infrastructure in addition to lack of industrial culture their performance is

likely to be below expectation” (Aggarwal 2005, p.59). This is a problem experienced in

South Africa where the IDZ‟s are not properly incorporated with the areas they are found in,

to uplift their economies and close the unemployment gap, therefore this then exposes the

lack of economic upliftment of the IDZ initiative particularly to the poor communities.

Moreover, government has highlighted that in 2007 both Coega and East London IDZ‟s

combined have had a positive impact of absorbing an estimated 3935 employment

opportunities (The Republic of South Africa 2010). This surely is a good sign for employment

although the short term nature of the contracts raises concern, the government is on a

mission to provide more sustainable jobs to grow economic security for the people.

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In spite of the background situation at hand this shows that South African IDZs have

managed, within the last couple of years, to successfully attract investments. Moreover the

zone‟s distrustful performance in permanent employment calls for a need to target and

provide support for labour-intensive industries. Tang adds that one of the most important

policy issues facing Southern African governments is how to successfully diversify their

economies into the manufacturing of exports.

In conclusion, we can safely say that based on the above information the state of the

Industrial Development Zone‟s in South Africa is generally good and improving. The

country‟s industrial sector needs to diversify and innovate to global standards as this will

accelerate the growth and put the country‟s GDP on a better level so the country can look at

other sectors to integrate and develop, also there needs to be a more localised context to

these industrial projects so that local stakeholders can have a piece of the pie. Once again it

seems to be more of a case of „spot and change as we go‟ as with many of South African

policies, but for the future the government has to ensure the longevity of all the policies that

support the IDZ initiative irregardless of the political party in power and to look at the whole

policy process with scrutiny for the betterment of all.

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7. WHAT ROLE DOES THE EAST LONDON IDZ PLAY IN THE BUFFALO CITY’S

ECONOMY?

With no doubt the Department of Trade and Industry has done an exceptional job in

identifying the Buffalo City region to house one of the country‟s four IDZ zones. With that

said, it would help with the study to look at the actual growth path that the East London IDZ

has taken to get to where it is presently, below is chronological graph showing the path that

has taken place since 1998 of the initiation, its implemented then to its current status, where

it is an operational project.

Figure 7.1: East London IDZ timeline with milestones

Source: East London IDZ 2011

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The East London IDZ is a massive project that has made macro-economic development a

more realistic concept to the region of the Buffalo City than usually perceived. With its

diversification plan it has surely drawn interest from miners, farmers, logistic business

personnel, construction workers, engineers, scientists and also investors. This has been

particularly stimulated by its huge land size, centralised location to major transport facilities,

convenient advertising and marketing platforms and lastly its developmental imperative, with

all these drawn from its vision as stipulated in the ELIDZ website. Geographically speaking,

“East London is linked by road, rail, sea-port and air networks and is equidistant to major

South African market centres such as Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban as well as

major export markets” which makes this IDZ to have more geographic advantage compared

to the Coega IDZ (East London IDZ 2011, p.7). This transport access supported by the

Buffalo City Municipality‟s Integrated Transport Plan 2010 highlights the integration and

efficient use of the various modes of transport facilities already in existence within the

municipality, which also urges the Buffalo City Municipality to upgrade its decaying

infrastructure.

As seen in the ELIDZ website “the ELIDZ project as a catalyst for growth had to go an extra

mile in implementing strategies using means such as BBBEE and SMME development in the

region to assist in maximising its development impact in future years” (East London IDZ

2009, p.7). This is a more direct way to bring upliftment to the Buffalo City region not to

mention the creation of a developmental environment for the Municipality in a way that

outshines the vision of the Buffalo City. This can perhaps be accounted for by the fact that

IDZ is an initiative driven directly by National Government and the Department of Trade and

Industry also is given greater authority in its policy and implementation so that the

development can be realised quicker.

Also the construction activity of the ELIDZ helped to elevate the economy of the region as

“more than 11300 construction employment opportunities have been created since its

inception, with a total of 72 learners receiving certification in fitting and machining, auto-

component manufacturing and welding applications” (East London IDZ 2009, p.13). This is a

clear indication that the East London IDZ has created job opportunities to the needy and also

trained people with the skills that they need to get permanent employment or open their own

practices if they had the resources. Certainly, this lessens the load for the Buffalo City

Municipality in the pursuit to give skills to its residents. In turn as stipulated in the IDP, the

Buffalo City Municipality is mindful of the fact that “it can only encourage economic

investment into the city, by providing a platform for economic dialogue for all stakeholders,

including the public, to participate” (East London IDZ 2009, p.15).

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Recently, the Eastern Cape Provincial government has pledged its full support to the ELIDZ

in its foresight to establish a Science and Technology Park (STP) that will replica the

Innovation hub of the Gauteng Province in a quest to integrate academic institutions,

research companies and the general public. This STP will draw intellectual resources from

all four universities in the region, namely Rhodes University, Walter Sisulu University, Fort

Hare University and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. This is in response to the

Eastern Cape government‟s drive to support innovation and knowledge generation (East

London IDZ 2009, p.18). This further shows the commitment of the ELIDZ to the economic

upliftment of the Buffalo City region, as the introduction of the Science and Technology Park

will steer development in a more innovative and inventive direction that will spark further

developments within the Buffalo City region.

Tribe in his article says that “there is a great resource diversity in the Sub-Saharan Africa

and countries have characteristics which place them close to the category of „newly

industrialised countries‟ while others have very small and rudimentary manufacturing sub-

sectors” (Tribe 2000, p.12). This makes us aware of the developmental context that the

African continent is under and further allows for the grooming of a „sense of urgency‟ that is

needed to achieve development in this resource-rich continent. As seen in the country‟s

various reports, South Africa is doing well in the industrial sector because of its participation

with the global village and also by readying its markets for global involvement. Regrettably

the global market is highly competitive as well as brutal where weak participants are

concerned, but in turn stronger markets can then have a greater influence, hence African

countries need to be well established and united for a daring force.

To sum up, the chapter has done a great deal of showcasing the economic effect of the

ELIDZ to the greater Buffalo City area, which apart from supplying jobs but also injecting a

spirit of development within the slow paced region of the Buffalo City. Also the fact that in the

BCIDP document there is dominance of the ELIDZ, as seen with a lot of strategies and

frameworks, shows that the ELIDZ is recognised as a major economic player in the region.

There is a clear relationship between the ELIDZ and the Buffalo City Municipality and it

would be of utmost advantage if both players would support the other in ensuring rapid

economic growth which at present is poorly anticipated in the region. It would be more

interesting to see how the upgrade to the metropolitan municipality is going to affect the

ELIDZ, on the other hand ideally speaking there should be faster growth as the municipality

is now more empowered to deliver its promise.

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8. ANALYSIS AND THEMES

8.1 Introduction

According to Leedy and Ormrod “the term qualitative research encompasses several

approaches to research that are in some respects quite different from one another” (Leedy

and Ormrod 2010, p.137). Having established in chapter two of this report, that the research

is a case study, further gave way for a research method that yielded a collection of extensive

data on the topic. This data collection has been mostly played out with the Literature Review

chapter which is the most part of this report that has utilised many sources to seek findings

and analyse the available data. Furthermore Mavhivha points out that “by means of

synthesis, the relationships between variables that are relevant to the phenomenon are

reconstructed to provide insight into underlying factors associated” (Mavhivha 2007, p.163).

The research indeed had a good response rate following the planned methodology, by the

contact sessions of the various interviews and questionnaires conveyed. Moreover with the

interview sessions, it was quite helpful to use the knowledge collected in the literature review

chapter to pave the way as there was more interactive dialogue in the interviews and this

encouraged the interviewees to easily bring up information that further strengthened the

study. What I discovered when comparing the literature review and the interview sessions is

that mostly the information I had received from sources was more politically correct as

compared to the information that I received from the interview sessions, where with the

interviews people painted an actual picture of what is really going on as opposed to an

apparent statement. Indeed this has highlighted the importance of a research process, that it

should be well planned and executed so as to receive a fortune of information. With that

said, this chapter will analyse the interview and questionnaire sessions conveyed by

grouping the questions with answers received, then produce themes based on grouped

similar areas, which will then be synthesised to show main arguments that arose.

8.2 Analysis of surveys

8.2.1 In-Depth Interviews

Herewith is the analysis of the in-depth interviews that were done with 4 professionals from

the various sectors in the Buffalo City region namely the East London IDZ, the East London

local newspaper Daily Dispatch, the Buffalo City Municipal Planning Department and lastly a

Consultation Planning Company. Due to the nature of the interviews being in-depth, the

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answers received were long and broad which could have been challenging a task to put

them as received but rather arranging them in a grouped and simplified format where I firstly

stated the question then followed with the summarised answer. The questions are

sequentially arranged as seen in the Appendix of the report and they are as follows:

The first Question insisted each interviewee to give a brief description of their

background knowledge particularly their relation to planning policies in general within

the Buffalo City, whereby the answers received varied from mostly direct and indirect

policy work with the policies of the Buffalo City Municipality through to their

interpretation and implementation.

The second question requested an account for the performance of the Buffalo City

Municipality in general, bringing to light short comings and successes which are

evident in the municipality. The answers were two sided, with the one side

acknowledging the good success of the Municipality even making mention of the

Vuna Award won in 2003, but on the other side there was a dissatisfaction given with

the struggling economic performance, poor infrastructure, poor governance and an

aged generation of planners still employed within the city.

The third question was interested in finding out about the relations between the

municipality and the residents of the Buffalo City region. Most of the interviewees

were well aware that local governance is at the forefront of the institution of

government and good relations with people need to be maintained to ensure success

and by this most answers were showing discontent with evidence of councillors being

chased out of communities when doing public participation activities, lack of service

delivery and also the problem with the rates that is troubling the municipality.

Question four wanted to know if the interviewees would say that post 1994 planning

policies employed by the municipality deliver on the promises or not? The question

was inspired by the fact that in South Africa there are always good policies adopted

by the municipalities but following on their promises becomes a battle. Whereby the

answers were mostly complimenting the municipality on satisfactory delivery on its

promises although there is room for better implementation.

Question five wanted to know if the Buffalo City Municipality does review its post

1994 policies as prompted by various legislation and policy. The answers were all

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yes, with the further knowledge that every 5 years there is a review process that

takes place within the Buffalo City Municipality. The relevance of the question is to

find out if the municipal processes laid out in the Municipal Systems Act were being

followed by the Buffalo City, as most local municipal problems start with a negligence

to continually assess policies.

Question six seeks the knowledge of the interviewees regarding the East London

Industrial Development Zone in general. The interviewees had a lot of information

about the IDZ such as the fact that it utilised new technologies, it is an improvement

in the skills of the automotive sector, it clusters like industries together and it has

diversification at its core, it is unearthing new industries like aqua-culture and

renewable sector industries and incubation, it is related to the Coega IDZ but focuses

more on clean industries largely in support of MBSA, it is a national government

initiative to combine industry into the urban development, and lastly that the East

London IDZ is the best performing IDZ in the country as it is aligning itself with

market demands by the use of world class facilities.

Question seven seeked to ask the very important question of the economic role that

the East London IDZ plays as an economic-boosting intervention to uplifting Buffalo

City‟s economy? The answers ranged from a lack of knowledge about the economic

role that the ELIDZ plays to the fact that yes the IDZ did bring more jobs to the region

which should mean that there is an economic boost. One answer that stood out is the

cause for concern about the „rand spent versus the rand earned‟ issue as it seemed

that more money was being invested by the DTI compared to the money being

returned in incomes of employees, but then again it would be unfair not to state that

the East London IDZ is still growing.

Question eight seeks to know that with the general knowledge of the Buffalo City

region and the extent of poverty in the area, do interviewees believe that a macro-

economic initiative like the Industrial Development Zone is as effective in eradicating

poverty, if not what should the municipality rather look at? The answers once again

differed immensely with one saying yes the macroeconomic initiative is as effective

but there needs to be more use of the IDZ opportunity than already exists. Another

answer said that sustainable facilitation of jobs is what is needed more than just

irregular job provision, then one answer looked at the municipality itself and its

functioning role to provide an environment where bureaucracies can partake.

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Question nine is about the knowledge of the interviewees concerning the policies that

encourage economic development within the Buffalo City Municipality and

municipalities in general. The answers that were given included knowledge about the

National Growth Plan, City Development Strategy with Integrated Development

Planning, Local Economic Development focus on SMME‟s, Tourism Development

Strategy, Rural and Agricultural Strategy, Bed and Breakfast Strategy and Economic

Development Strategy. The interviewees indeed had good knowledge about the

policies, but knowledge alone will not guarantee success unless the policies are put

to good use.

Question ten is interested to find out if the Industrial Development Zone is regarded

as a success or failure? If yes why and if not why? The interviewees all agreed that it

is a success, and the reasons are the spending of over a billion rands in

infrastructure, creation of jobs, the building of new sectors, 24 investors in the site,

the fact that the IDZ is bringing development to the Buffalo City area, it has been able

to attract industries that suit the area and by the incorporation of medium type of

industries. One interviewee also said no because of the poor attraction of business.

Question eleven enlightened a curiosity I had on the interviewees as to what would

they suggest to the Buffalo City Municipality, to maximize the potential of the

Industrial Development Zone? The answers received suggested an incentive system

that the Municipality will use to attract investors, also the delivering on services

particularly with land offers should be done quicker, a call for a properly functioning

municipal structure, to promote growth, infrastructure development and investment,

marketing and the initiation of a science and technology park which will link local

Eastern Cape universities and the East London IDZ.

Question twelve seeks to know that within the present context of low living standards

and low incomes regarding the poor of Buffalo City Municipality, do the interviewees

regard top-down strategies such as the industrial Development Zone effective or do

we need more bottom-up strategies, like Local Economic Development? The

answers were torn between two worlds but mostly bottom-up strategies were seen as

more necessary as there is a need to move away from enforcing set jobs and skills

but to create an environment that stimulates entrepreneurship and diversity that will

be driven by a culture of entitlement. Also the fact that the municipality has a 25%

claim in the East London IDZ suggests a call for other projects to be set in place for

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the region, focus on skills, funds, and facilitation in-terms of implementing LED,

SMME, entrepreneurship, and education and skills. One side said we need top-down

strategies so as to keep the city on the global map.

Question thirteen is interested with the outreach role that the IDZ plays with the cross

cutting issues stated in the Buffalo City IDP document 2010/2011, including HIV/Aids,

Local Agenda 21, poverty, gender and disability issues, negligence of older persons

and lastly the youth and children, does the Industrial Development Zone take the

above into consideration? Half of the interviewees did not know if the East London

IDZ was involved in a campaign of any kind and two interviewees acknowledged that

the IDZ did cater for disabled persons with its procurement programme it employed

and that there is learnership programmes between IDZ and office of the premier, and

lastly corporate social investment.

Question fourteen opened the platform to any comments about the Municipality, the

post 1994 planning policies and also Industrial Development Zone. Of which the

answers were: diversification of IDZ is the future of SA, where new markets and

sectors are established; more unity is needed with other departments and agencies;

the municipality is upgrading into a metro and that will mean more benefits and

power which should be used productively; there is great potential and we aren‟t doing

much to facilitate job creation; the IDZ is all we have; As a local authority we can still

do more facilitation and creation of jobs; and the ELIDZ has geared itself for

economic growth with the assistance of the city of which the economy dictates

development and that would be the challenge for the IDZ.

8.2.2 Public Questionnaires

Consecutively we are now going to look at the analysis of public questionnaires that were

conveyed with twenty-one people in the Buffalo City Region. The participants of this activity

are people that were randomly selected then requested to fill in the questionnaire with

honesty and without fear of judgement for the answers they give. Each question below has a

dominant answer directly afterwards.

Question one checked if the participants all stayed within the Buffalo City region? Of

which they all confirmed and indeed they all were Buffalo City residents.

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While question two seeked to find out the period that each of them stayed in the

Buffalo City region? A majority of the people that were interviewed have stayed in the

Buffalo City area for a term of 5 to 15 years, so they do have good background

knowledge of the municipality.

Question three wanted to find out if the state of poverty with time has improved in the

Buffalo City area? And a majority of the people that were interviewed think that the

state of poverty of the municipality has not improved, while 40% of the people do see

a recognisable improvement.

Question four wanted to know about the state of municipal management in Buffalo

City Municipality? Whereby most of the people were not satisfied about the state of

management and an equal number of people were neutral about the state of

municipal management.

Question five seeked to get the sense of the condition of democracy in the Buffalo

City region? Then a majority of the people that participated agree that a strong sense

of democracy is evident in the Buffalo City Municipality and residential communities,

whereby this is demonstrated by regular public participation processes.

Question six asked about the general satisfaction of the people with the Buffalo City

municipality? And just over a half of the people who were interviewed said they were

not satisfied with the municipality.

Question seven asks if the municipality works with communities to economically uplift

the people? And the answer is that just over a half of the participants do not believe

the municipality works with communities to economically uplift people.

Then Question eight assessed peoples knowledge about the East London Industrial

Development Zone? Whereby a majority of the people in the municipal area do know

about the East London IDZ.

Question nine wanted to know about any of the participants being employed at the

East London Industrial Development Zone? Where all of the people interviewed said

they are not employed at the IDZ.

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In question ten the interviewees were to state if they knew anyone that works at the

East London Industrial Development Zone? Then no one knew of a person working

at the East London Industrial Development Zone.

Question eleven seeked to find out about knowledge of employment opportunities

offered by the East London Industrial Development Zone to the Buffalo City region.

Whereby disappointingly, only 25% of the people interviewed know about the

employment opportunities of the IDZ. The above questions show that there is poor

marketing done by both the Buffalo City Municipality and the East London Industrial

Development Zone about employment opportunities.

Question twelve wanted to find out if poverty eradication was a concern to the East

London Industrial Development Zone? Just below 50% of the people interviewed

knew about the poverty eradication impact of the East London Industrial

Development Zone. Which shows the poor impact that the project has on the Buffalo

City region.

Question thirteen wanted to know about other interventions that would be suggested

to be done by the Buffalo City municipality that would be seen as more effective in

raising local economies? And most people said that the municipality should look

more at stimulating job creation opportunities.

Finally question fourteen wanted to know if the residents of the region were satisfied

with the Buffalo City in relation to job creation and economic upliftment? A majority of

the people who participated say that they are not satisfied with job creation and

economic upliftment of Buffalo City

8.2.3 What the surveys show

From the surveys a broader context to the issues of the Buffalo City municipality and the

ELIDZ have been brought forward. Certainly the information gathered does not seem to be

far off to the reality of the performance of the Buffalo City region. It is clear that the

interviews brought a hard-hitting honest view from otherwise good looking government

reviews and documentation about the Buffalo City. For example the issue of irregular

municipal appointments to important positions such as the municipal manager and CFO,

which were not mentioned in the literature but got exposed in the interviews. That then gives

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an important reason to the poor performing municipal structure and lack of cohesiveness

regarding the municipality in general. Havenga has identified the importance of the local

government as that of playing a crucial role in the democratization and intensification of

mass participation in the decision making process (Havenga 2002, p.50). With this we can

say that a well functioning local government will then strengthen the democratic aspect of

region and engage its people on all aspects such as economic upliftment. Wherefore the

poor functioning of the internal structure of the municipality will lead to poor policy abidance

and accountability as acting positions do not carry enough knowledge and responsibility.

From the surveys the researcher has then identified dominant issues that have been

identified by the participants regarding the performance of the municipality and they are:

1. Poor integration of the Buffalo City Municipality and the East London IDZ to make a

successful story of the association.

2. Low social responsibility of the industrial sector that is found in the Buffalo City

region.

3. Ongoing political battles within the BCM that threaten growth and paralyse the

people‟s interest and pride with their municipality.

4. The Buffalo City‟s polarized vision between political and professional groups within

the municipality, where views and influences are different.

5. Lack of the youth factor as an important stakeholder in the development vision of the

Buffalo City‟s IDP imperative.

6. South Africa‟s national challenge of bridging the gap between corporate South Africa

and regular citizens to realise the concept of equality.

8.2.4 Themes formed from Interviews

With the foundation established and clear the next thing to do is to analyse all this

information and answers received from both the questionnaires, in-depth interview sessions

and issues identified to then bring out the major findings. These findings have been carefully

placed into themes that have been listed below to give us direction as to where and what

needs to be recommended:

Public‟s general knowledge of the East London IDZ and its proper incorporation with

the Buffalo City Municipality.

Maximum use of the potential found in the association of the East London IDZ and

Buffalo City Municipality to accelerate regional economic growth.

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Incorporation of other sectors like education, business forums, and Local Economic

Development in the Buffalo City region to add value to the holistic East London IDZ

initiative.

Stabilizing the Buffalo City Municipality‟s functioning with a strong emphasis on

integrated development

8.3 Concluding Remarks

In conclusion it is at this stage that we appreciate the research as we have now spotted the

“rat” that makes the research topic to be in existence, as that being the poor relationship

between the two sectors whereby various knock-on issues are slowing down the economical

motivation and dampening the situation. Certainly the interviews conveyed in the research

completed the research study as it gave a more public perspective to the performance of the

Buffalo City Municipality and the East London IDZ. Moreover, the interviews strengthened

the themes we have produced, which would have otherwise been in the danger of being too

theoretical had the interviews not been conveyed. Leedy and Ormrod also add that “going

beyond the facts found in the literature and interpreting all the information with a closer look

at patterns makes the research to be more complete” (Leedy and Ormrod 2010, p138). At

this point of the research we have established what the main arguments are for the research

before we start suggesting solutions to counteract any irregularities existing presently in

Buffalo City Municipality and the East London IDZ.

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9. SYNTHESIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

9.1 Introduction

In this segment of the report we are going to sum up all the points and arguments in a way

that integrates the information so that all loopholes are covered. In the second segment

follows the recommendations for the research as a way of answering the research question

whereby providing the suggestions that can help our respective municipality and hopefully

strengthen the relationship with the East London IDZ.

9.2 Synthesis

At this stage, the next thing to do is to make sense of all this collected information so as to

raise well informed arguments and set the record straight in-order to compile the

recommendations. Following the identification of themes from the analysis we are now going

to expand on each theme to show relevance to the study. Moreover to give a final touch to

the themes we will discuss and compare the actual situation against the ideal situation. The

researcher has also added his viewpoints in the themes and also proposed a few things by

looking at already existing situations and research.

9.2.1 General knowledge of the East London IDZ and its proper incorporation with

the Buffalo City Municipality:

One of the objectives of a local municipality is to effectively engage its residents in a public

participatory way of sharing the city‟s vision, strategies and plans. This has not been the

ideal case in this municipal area as the surveys revealed that few people know about the

East London IDZ project. Obviously this is due to the poor marketing which the BCM is

responsible for and also the proper incorporation of the Development Zone within the

municipal region. However, as revealed in the IDP document, there are structures put in

place for better exposure between the Buffalo City Municipality and the East London IDZ

whereby their active utilisation is questionable.

Although the marketing of the IDZ seems to have taken a back seat and therefore adding to

its low profile, the IDZ alone is operating well and expanding its territory. Moreover on the

issue of incorporation the Department of Trade and Industry has explained that the IDZ

concept is driven by export boosting and job creation strategies, whereby we are assessing

the effectiveness of such visions within the Buffalo City context. The Buffalo City‟s Economic

Development Framework (2010) seemed to have focused more on LED whereas there are

also macro-economic interventions like the Industrial Development Corporation and the East

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London Industrial Development Zone that should be exploited. The municipalities as

institutions that provide services and ensure proper running of the local spheres are mostly

faced with the facilitative and mediative role between the public and the various sectors,

where ideally speaking great conviction needs to be applied by the municipality to ensure

noticeable economic growth that exploits the opportunities available.

9.2.2 Maximum use of the East London IDZ potential and Buffalo City Municipality

association to accelerate regional economic growth:

Regional economic growth is an economically powerful concept and needs careful

understanding especially when dealing with the stakeholders, because ideally speaking the

stakeholders need to be in a cohesive spirit. The stakeholders in this case will be the Buffalo

City Municipality, the East London IDZ, the political parties represented in the region, private

companies that have invested in the area, the provincial industrial associations and lastly the

public with their respective representatives.

Pillay (2010, p.13) has proposed that “stakeholders are any group and individuals who can

affect or is affected by the achievement of an organization‟s objective”, whereby within the

Buffalo City‟s organizational existence all stake holders have to be properly identified and

incorporated into the objectives and visions of the Buffalo City IDP. From the surveys it was

obvious that people knew that the East London IDZ is a major employer in the Buffalo City

and also believed that there can be more that the association can harvest for both sectors

involved.

However the problems to economic empowerment as Fryer (2000, p.7) has pointed out are a

universal issue whereby local municipalities are no exception. These problems include

scarcity, limited resources and unlimited needs. Scarcity tells us that the available resources

are not enough to give to everyone, limited resources can be from anything such as labour,

capital and entrepreneurship just to name a few, then unlimited needs is the fact that you

can never really satisfy everyone.

The ASGISA programme looks at the incorporation of infrastructure programmes, sector

investment and also skills and education issues, which the IDZ is supposed to consider and

pursue as part of its community outreach programme. Also, the priorities of the NSDP

document are to increase economic growth and promote social inclusion which the

municipality can use to assess its Spatial Development Framework plans with. According to

the Buffalo City IDP document, the Buffalo City‟s SDF looks at the spatial reference of

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development and has incorporated the new Land Use Management Systems that provide

clear and logical framework for spatial development by providing an indication of where the

public sector should act and also based on this, to provide a clear spatial logic that would

facilitate private sector decisions on investment. This shows that the Buffalo City Municipality

has done a good job in the drafting of its spatial documents, however the space should be

utilised in an integrated way with the East London IDZ so as to benefit the residents of the

municipality at large.

9.2.3 Incorporation of other sectors like education, business forums and Local

Economic Development to add value to the holistic macro-economic

programme of the East London IDZ:

The role of different sectors in any system is getting more important in this sustainable age

we live in. Autonomous and separated sectors find it hard to survive and on the other hand

multi-sectoral developments have proved to stand the test of time. It can be commonly

thought that the strength of globalisation lies in the fact that through multiple sectors

corporations can succeed so long as there are different operations it is involved in and the

application of innovation as a principle. This has certainly set the stage for the importance of

multiple sectors in any organisation, whereby a local government should be no exception.

In his research, Gibbens (2008, p.30) has shown that “South Africa‟s IDPs reflect a multi-

sectoral, integrated, bottom-up approach to local and regional development and are

expected to give effect to notions of developmental local government”. This is where the

strength of the IDP‟s lie, to recognise all the sectors that are linked to a respective

municipality then in a public participatory approach integrate all the sectors so that combined

growth is realised for the good of the municipal region.

Undoubtedly the association of an industrial initiative on the level such as the East London

IDZ with a local municipality brings two unique and independent sectors together in a way

that is still novel in our country. Currently, all the SDFs of the cities in South Africa have an

industrial zoning on them and that is as far as the association will go, without fully

incorporating the municipal and industrial association, thus the East London IDZ is not taken

with the recognition it should have.

From the surveys there has been a concern that local academic institutions are not

benefiting from the East London IDZ as they should be or rather the IDZ is not utilising the

research aspects of the academic institutions. For example, there is suggestion that the East

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London IDZ could allow scientific research to be done in the premises especially to related

subjects like engineering, chemical and biological sciences and also use some of the

research projects conveyed by the academic institutions to be run on the IDZ facilities as

proper business projects.

At the same time, the East London IDZ has informed us of a Science and Technology Park

project that is in the pipeline to collaborate this macro-economic intervention with major

academic institutions like Fort Hare University, Walter Sisulu University, Rhodes University

and lastly Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Education particularly in the innovative

side is a very important sector which can further enrich the association and cultivate a

growing economic environment.

9.2.4 Proper functioning of the Buffalo City Municipality with a strong emphasis on

integrated development:

The Local Government Turnaround Strategy, 2009, recognized that there is a major problem

with local governments regarding internal factors within their direct control and as well as

external factors that the municipality has no control over. Internal factors of local governance

have a tendency to undermine the strength of any municipality and can mislead the external

observers into thinking that the whole structure is out of control whereas its management

issues.

This issue has been raised in the interviews and is shown from the fact that most high level

posts in the Buffalo City Municipality do not have permanent appointments, and this seems

to have compromised accountability and functionality of the municipality as a whole.

Government has identified that with the three spheres of government, local government is at

the front line of implementation and delivery, and this means that the success and failure of

government is exposed by the „performance‟ of the local municipalities, of which improper

municipal management jeopardizes the whole plan of good governance.

Unfortunately in the South African context local governments experience a lot of corruption

and this misuse of government funding together with improper structures makes for unstable

municipal management which then makes development to become a slow process. Mkhonta

has also pointed out the important role that “a public body plays in shaping the municipalities

regarding all their needs” (Mkhonta 2007, p.231), this then highlights the importance of

public participation in any decision making process of municipalities.

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Gibbens has also added that “the structure of a municipality should reflect the goals and

purpose of the IDP” (Gibbens 2008, p.116). This does make good sense as we know the

IDP document of a municipality is a backbone document of a municipality, whereby if we

need to get a good understanding of the municipality we must look at its IDP document.

When looking at the Buffalo City‟s IDP document itself we see that the East London IDZ is

not given significant coverage, however there is an economic cluster subtopic visible

whereby the IDZ falls under is vaguely mentioned. It would have been more effective to have

an East London IDZ subtopic to show good elaboration on the actual relationship and also

proper integration.

9.3 What Can Be Recommended?

With the synthesis done and all the problems identified and presented, the researcher is now

left with taking the baton forward and giving recommendations. It would be beneficial to the

Buffalo City Municipality to consider the following recommendations and take the study

solely as a research piece that has followed the research process by identifying a gap and

proposing a well guided solution. The following recommendations are deducted from the

research information and they are:

Preservation of permanent appointments to all positions in the Buffalo City

Municipality.

Encouragement of political and professional cohesion to the internal employees of

the Buffalo City Municipality.

Proper implementation of the policy process especially with regard to the IDP.

Cultivation of good public participation culture.

The Buffalo City Municipality needs to facilitate the economic atmosphere that

integrates all stakeholders under the Buffalo City‟s region particularly the youth who

are the creative segment of the region.

The Buffalo City Municipality needs to exploit the existence of the Industrial

Development Zone within its bounds to effectively uplift its economy and possibly

enter into the global economy.

Furthermore let us look at the existing legislation of our country which has been well

researched and put in place for the benefit of our country‟s performance. The department of

Cooperative Governance in South Africa under its strategic priorities including halving

poverty and unemployment, and empowering and capacitating organs of people‟s power is

charged with the guiding role of: “ensuring hands-on support through the established system

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and capacity-building programme; focusing on critical areas such as IDP, LED, financial

management, service delivery and public participation; evaluating the impact of government

programmes in municipal areas; enhancing performance and accountability by improving the

quality of reporting and improving the monitoring, reporting and evaluation of capacity in

local government”. This is in the South African government‟s constitutional mandate to cover

all loopholes relating to local governance and the LGSA is put in place to guide

municipalities. The following Acts are implemented by the Department of Cooperative

Governance to strengthen municipal performances:

Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005, looks at the relationship and

dependency of the three spheres of government as it has been realised that stronger ties

that are collaborated in spirit are needed and more collective action is needed to ensure

that there isn‟t a level that is left suffering. Regarding the Buffalo City Municipality we can

see that there is ample support from the provincial and national governments to make its

success realised. The Buffalo City Municipality will need to make more use of this

relationship to its advantage.

Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003, deals with the financial management of the

municipalities because mismanagement of funds is still a major concern to a lot of

municipalities and financial health in a developing country faces many challenges that

will need special focus. Although the Buffalo City is not doing badly in this regard, there

is a gap for a more income generative system that needs to be in place in the

Municipality so that the municipality will be independent and fully functional as in the

initial days of democracy.

Municipal Systems Act, 2000, is an Act that looks at the overall functioning of the

municipality within a collection of many subsystems by establishing a framework that

monitors plans and systems in the context of changes transformations that may be

evident. I would propose that the Buffalo City municipality must re-visit the Act and

identify all resources it has at its disposal and see as to in what way can the economy of

Buffalo City be lifted.

Municipal Structures Act, 1998, looks at the internal structures of the local municipality

and ward committees whose tasks is the preparation, implementation and review of IDPs

and also monitoring and reviewing of municipalities‟ performances and how they can be

managed properly to ensure that residents and municipal operations of the area are not

affected by internal problems and challenges. This is crucial to any municipality as it will

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help strengthen the IDP process to ensure a clear vision. Buffalo City should take this

Act seriously and produce a local municipality that is people centred and inspired.

White Paper on Local Government, 1998, is legislation that gave birth to some of the

Acts above. It looks at the new way of democracy that government has embarked on

after the realisation of democracy in a country faced with the apartheid legacy. The Act

takes the focus back to service delivery and the happiness of the residents. The

municipality will need to revisit this piece of legislation for assistance with its

performance.

With the above recommendations, it is once again clear to see that the government of the

Republic of South Africa is rich in strategic policy and legislation that needs proper review

and monitoring by the institutions that they are intended to guide. This may be an annual or

biannual review to strengthen the performance of the respected municipalities. Future

research should look at how the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality will work with

development corporations particularly the East London IDZ to reach an economic return for

the Buffalo City region that is better than the present state. Also it would be beneficial to

have future research that looks at how the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality should

strengthen its marketing and use its media resources in a way that is beneficial for the

greater municipality.

9.4 Concluding Remarks

As in the words of Ronald Reagan, “The one irrefutable lesson of the entire post war period

is contradicting the notion that rigid government control is essential to economic

development”. This quote tells us that governance is a system that needs to constantly

update itself in the knowledge of the current trends and issues that arise in the country and

in so doing will change constantly. That then informs us of the reason the South African

government has experienced a lot of policy, institutional and structural changes since the

democratic dawn of 1994. With the evolution of issues and global influences a nation-state is

bound to change or suffer stagnation. This optimistic view point of economic development in

the Buffalo City region through the ELIDZ is just one of many ways that the region can

create jobs and uplift society. More dialogue is needed on this subject and future leaders

that have faith in change for the greater society need to be encouraged and groomed for the

region or we will continue to see slow general economic growth and stronger private growth.

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10. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS

Chapter one of the report was the foundation of the whole research as it gave to the

reader brief background information about the geographical area being studied. The

introduction looked at a brief history of South Africa, and then we zoomed in on the

study area being the Buffalo City and the East London IDZ in its context presently.

The problem statement gave an explanation of the problem on top of the background

knowledge gained, followed by the research question and the sub-problems that

were later turned into chapters of the research itself.

Then chapter two of the document shares with the reader about the methodology

employed in the research according to its nature, to acquire information in a process

and technique that the study has followed in-order to answer the questions stated in

the first chapter. The methodology will also express as to why the route of research

was chosen.

Next is the most important chapter of this whole document in terms of weight of

content. Due to the nature of the report being an assessment of policy, this meant

that an extensive analysis of policies related to the topic had to be done, of which

most often than not the information found needed to be summarised as can be seen

in the third chapter of this document. The literature included South African policy,

Buffalo City post 1994 policy, planning legislation, IDZ policy and lastly Information

about South African governance in general.

Following is the fourth chapter which is the first sub-problem of our report being an

assessment of the state of local government development in South Africa. Here we

looked at developmental plans and policy used by local government to understand if

this greater context influenced the ELIDZ to be well accommodated in the Buffalo

City Municipal area.

Chapter five then zoomed in on the performance of the Buffalo City Municipality

whereby its facilitation role was under the spotlight, as we must remember that the

research is dealing with this municipality and therefore we must get a sense of how

things are to later be understood regarding the IDZ from the municipality‟s

standpoint.

Chapter six explores the state of Industrial Development Zones in South Africa so as

to better understand the East London Industrial Development Zone. The state of the

IDZs in the rest of the country should influence the performance of East London IDZ

as the DTI‟s policy will be evaluated based on all the zones. Further, we compared

the performance of the ELIDZ with other IDZs in the country to get a more

quantitative picture.

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The next chapter looks at the role that the East London IDZ plays in Buffalo City‟s

economy. This takes us to the answer of the research question but gives us the

answer while just taking the theoretical viewpoint based on content of information

already available.

The eighth chapter then looks at the interviews and questionnaires that were

conveyed in the study by discussing the nature of the questions and their intention

then looking at the answers received that are put in a way that interprets their

meaning. From the sessions then follows the formulation of themes according to key

areas,

Chapter nine then synthesised the themes by giving a more content rich statement,

then to give the researcher‟s viewpoints and lastly to propose where possible. In the

second segment of the chapter we look at the recommendations for the research that

can be used by the Buffalo City Municipality whereby we also look at the existing

legislation.

Chapter ten is the synopsis chapter of the research whereby I give a rough

framework of the research study so that the objectives of each chapter are clearly

outlined.

Chapter eleven is the final chapter of the research and it is only with sense that as

the first chapter of the report is an introduction then the last chapter should be a

conclusion so that we have a closed argument.

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11. GENERAL CONCLUSION

At the present moment the City of East London has a booming private property sector, as we

have noticed with the recent construction of the massive Hotel development on the Eastern

Beach front right on the periphery of the Quigney suburb. There are also the booming private

retail developments which can be noticed throughout the major suburbs of the East London

area like the shopping plazas in the Beacon Bay area, the huge extension of the

Hemmingways Casino that added a mall and parking, the major renovations that have been

done on the Vincent Park Mall and parking, and lastly the recent construction of the

Mdantsane Mall. From the above developments, in an apparent way of looking at

development in the region people can conclude that the economy of East London is

booming and the residents of the city are privileged to be closely located to this growing

cake. Well, yes the developments will make East London to be one of the hyped up urban

places in South Africa where there is everything that an urban area needs, but sadly, the

developments will not add to the overall economic sustainability of Buffalo City region as

anticipated.

Putting the spotlight on the East London Industrial Development Zone, an enormous project

that is a partnership between the Department of Trade and Industry and Buffalo City

Municipality which has also been funded by a couple of billions of government funding and

constructed with infrastructure that is world class. The East London IDZ is an excellent

macro-economic project that involves government‟s vision to open South Africa particularly

the Buffalo City region into the world of global trade. The potential for this opportunity I

believe is much greater than is presently being realised and this ELIDZ development to the

greater Buffalo City region, as a government development, should be geared more to the

economic upliftment of the residents particularly the poor.

According to Mtshweni, the Buffalo City Municipality “as a state entity has a primary function

to create wealth within a country” and of which the degree of state intervention on the

economic front is still debateable (Mtshweni 2009, p.49). Ultimately, the Buffalo City will

have to look at effective policy processes that will produce a municipality that is involved and

really responsive to the issue of economic upliftment. The Municipality of the Buffalo City in

its new context of a metropolitan municipality will have to take this issue with a closer eye

and use the „new powers‟ it has gained to its advantage.

Lastly, the research has identified all the resources at the disposal of the Buffalo City region

to exercise rapid economic growth such as never seen before in the region. East London is

well located as it is central to major economic regions of South Africa and with added forms

of transport, such as the airport and the seaport, has even greater excess to the world than

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other regions of similar economic class. This is a stand point that needs to be marketed and

fully explored by the municipality to stimulate an economic spirit in the region that touches

even the scholers. The Science and Technology Park project, if driven in the same

anticipation as the Innovation Hub, will also boom research and innovation to the Buffalo City

region. The research has looked at the changes that have occurred in relation to local

municipality and development that has been experienced. Edigheji (2007) has outlined that

globalisation has two dynamic processes which are “the new information technology

paradigm and the massive mobility of capital”. This shows what the macro-economy is

driven by and certainly a city that has a macro-economic aspect should take these

processes seriously.

With that said we can safely close the study and hope that this document adds to the field of

planning and also economics. For the researcher the study was a wonderful and informative

opportunity that has enforced an attitude of academia and also patriotism for this diverse

country of South Africa.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Your name:

The company you work for and your position:

1. Can you please give us a brief description of your background knowledge and

experience in relation to planning policies:

2. Give an account for the performance of the Buffalo City Municipality in general, bringing

to light short comings and successes which are evident in the municipality:

3. How are the relations between the municipality and the residents?

4. Would you say the post 1994 planning policies employed by the municipality deliver on

the promises?

5. Does the Municipality review the post 1994 policies?

6. What is your knowledge of the East London Industrial Development Zone?

7. Does the Industrial Development Zone as an economic-boosting intervention help with

uplifting Buffalo City‟s economy, and how exactly?

8. With the General knowledge of Buffalo City region and the extent of poverty in the area,

do you believe that a macro-economic initiative like the Industrial Development Zone is

as effective in eradicating poverty, if not what should the municipality rather look at?

9. What policies relating to economic development and related subjects do you know of that

are employed by the Buffalo City Municipality or by other municipalities that you know

of?

10. Would you regard the Industrial Development Zone as a success or failure? If yes why, if

not why?

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11. What would you suggest to the Buffalo City Municipality to maximize the potential of the

Industrial Development Zone?

12. In the present context of low living standards and low incomes within the poor of Buffalo

City Municipality, would you regard top-down strategies such as the industrial

Development Zone effective or do we need more bottom-up strategies (like Local

Economic Development)?

13. As outlined in the Buffalo City IDP document - 2010/2011, cross cutting issues to the

municipality include HIV/Aids, Local Agenda 21, poverty, gender, disability, older

persons and lastly the youth and children, does the Industrial Development Zone take

the above into consideration?

14. General comments about the Municipality and the post 1994 planning policies and

industrial Development Zone and/or suggestions.

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APPENDIX 2: PUBLIC QUESTIONNAIRE

QUESTION COMMENTS YES NO GOOD BAD NEUTRAL

1. Do you stay in the Buffalo City

Municipal area?

2. For how long have you stayed in

Buffalo City?

3. Has the state of poverty improved

in the Buffalo city area?

4. How would you declare the state of

the municipal management?

5. Is democracy evident in the region?

6. Are you satisfied with the

municipality?

7. Does the municipality work with

communities to economically uplift

people?

8. Do you know about the Industrial

Development Zone?

9. Are you employed by it?

10. Do you know of a person that

works by it?

11. Do you know about employment

opportunities brought by the

Industrial Development Zone?

12. Does the Industrial Development

Zone help to eradicate poverty?

13. What other interventions would you

suggest done by the municipality

that you would see as more

effective?

14. Are you satisfied about the state of

the Buffalo City in relation to job

creation and economic upliftment?

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APPENDIX 3: MAP OF STUDY AREA

Source: Buffalo City IDP 2010/2011