Abstract:
The re-admittance of South Africa into the community of nations brought opportunities and
challenges. South Africa had to adapt and conform to the prevailing global economic
architecture and adhere to neo-liberal principles prevailing at the time while at home it had to
face a restructuring economy and worsening social conditions for a majority of its people:
unemployment, housing and infrastructure backlogs.
Policies and programmes where devised and adopted. The EPWP and local economic
development programmes are just two of the many programmes meant to deal with
unemployment, skills development, inequality and poverty. This report investigates the
potential of the EPWP as a tool for local economic development by reviewing the theoretical
underpinnings of public works and local economic development; and the intergovernmental
relations and planning policies, processes, mechanisms, and institutional arrangements in
place to enable the programmes’ implementation. Based on the investigation, findings and
recommendations are made.
