South Africa
Country overview
The Republic of South Africa is situated at the southern tip of the African continent between latitudes 22 and 35 south. The Indian Ocean is on the east coast and the Atlantic on the west. It is bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Sawziland. It has a popultation of 43,997,828 (2007).
There are nine provinces in South Africa; Gauteng (Capital - Johannesburg); Kwazulu-Natal (Capital - Pietermaritzburg); Northern Province (Capital - Peitersburg); North West (Capital - Mmbatho); Mpumalanga (Capital - Nelspruit); Free State (Capital - Bloemfontein); Northern Cape (Capital - Kimberley); Western Cape (Capital - Cape Town); Eastern Cape (Capital - King Williams Town); which cover a total of 1,219,912 km2
Country theme: Improving governance for decentralisation
Local government is firmly entrenched in the Constitution and has primary responsibiltiy for delivering basic services to the community. Its role is clearly established and is constitutionally guaranteed an "equitable share" of national revenue. However in many areas it has limited human and financial resources and a weak local revenue base.
All of our GPS phase 3 projects in South Africa are conducted around the theme of local economic development (LED) and wealth creation, this theme is integral to the Municipal Transformation Programme, but is a relatively new function for local government in South Africa, which is why it has been idenfitied by SALGA as a suitable national theme for projects at this time.
GPS projects
Project title: Integrated rural development plan
Municipality/corporations: Amathole District Municipality
Partner organisations: Oxforhshire County Council
Project duration: 2 years
Project summary
The emphasis of this project will be on improving local economic developmetn in Nkonkobe and other municipalities to the west of the kei River in the Amathole Districm. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of the local officeals and counillors to develop their counils' public services in tourism, waste management and environmental improvemnets, the expansion of its fledgling micro businesses and to sustain, embed and reinforce all of this through a school improvement programme focussed on the teaching of mathematics and science.
Useful links
Department for Provincial and Local Government
Development Bank of Southern Africa