Written by: Sibonelo Tshonga who is a Local Government Professional and an LED Manager at Alfred Nzo Development Agency with over 8 years’ experience in Municipal governance, economic development and institutional performance management.
I believe the Eastern Cape province urgently needs a practical and progressive response to the intertwined crises of unemployment, poverty and underdevelopment. As I continue refining this proposal, one thing remains increasingly clear to me: the future of economic transformation in the province may very well lie in the establishment of Ward-Based Economic Development Entities.
The Eastern Cape has more than 700 wards, yet most remain little more than administrative and electoral zones instead of productive economic centres. The time has come for local government to fundamentally rethink the developmental role of wards within our democratic system.
Every local municipality should, through council resolutions, establish and budget for Ward-Based Economic Development Entities partially funded for operational and working capital purposes. These entities would not exist as profit-driven institutions, but as catalytic development structures focused primarily on sustainable job creation, investment attraction and local industrialisation. Each entity could initially operate from modest ward-level offices consisting of three or four offices, including a small boardroom, supported by a technically capable team of approximately four officials, including CDWs. Existing underutilised public infrastructure such as unused government buildings, schools and municipal facilities could be repurposed for this purpose.
The officials would be responsible for coordinating ward development projects, preparing investment proposals, facilitating land acquisition and leases, engaging stakeholders, coordinating infrastructure development and mobilising local economic opportunities.
Importantly, these entities should not become bloated bureaucracies. Their primary measure of success must be sustainable job creation and investment attraction.
The entities should further be governed by boards consisting of professionals, specialists, traditional leaders and community representatives appointed for fixed terms to ensure accountability and technical competence. LED officials from municipalities and sector departments could provide technical support, monitoring and capacity building over time.
Pilot programmes could first be introduced in wards that already possess strategic economic advantages such as agriculture, forestry, mining, tourism, manufacturing and the oceans economy. This would allow the province to gradually build specialised production corridors across municipalities and districts, enabling certain wards to become recognised hubs for specific industries capable of supplying nearby towns, cities and export markets.
In many parts of the Eastern Cape, municipal offices are located far from communities and therefore struggle to facilitate development initiatives such as land access and infrastructure coordination at grassroots level. Yet development opportunities, land and local economic realities exist primarily within wards themselves. Ward-Based Economic Development Entities could therefore become important instruments for accelerating land acquisition for development, infrastructure rollout, industrial coordination and local investment mobilisation. There are already Ward Development Plans developed through the Department of Agriculture across the province that can serve as a foundation for implementation.
Each ward entity should receive baseline annual working capital — for example R5 million per annum — to initiate operations, coordinate projects and attract further investment. However, these entities must not survive solely on municipal grants. They should be empowered to source development finance and investment from institutions such as the IDC, NEF, Land Bank and Small Enterprise Finance Agency , while also entering partnerships with private investors where appropriate.
Public infrastructure within wards — including abandoned schools, unused government buildings and underutilised public assets — can further be repurposed into productive economic facilities under the administration of these entities.
To ensure democratic legitimacy and accountability, the voters’ roll of each ward can serve as a foundational mechanism for community verification and representativity. The municipal voters’ roll would therefore become the primary governance and verification mechanism for community participation and representation.
Importantly, this proposal does not require an immediate overhaul of South Africa’s constitutional or economic system. Much of it can be implemented within the existing regulatory framework through municipal council resolutions, intergovernmental cooperation and policy amendments.
Versions of this developmental approach have contributed significantly to economic transformation in countries such as China and Vietnam through localised production structures and industrial clustering. Elements of similar systems have also emerged in parts of Spain and elsewhere in the world.
South Africa is at a moment in history where the direction of future generations is being shaped by the transition from a unipolar to a multipolar global economic order. The Eastern Cape must actively participate in building a new indigenous economic power structure rooted in productive local economies. The SA post-colonial economy has continued to reproduce unemployment, inequality and social frustration, creating fertile ground for instability and anti-democratic sentiment.
If we are serious about reversing unemployment and underdevelopment, then local economic development can no longer remain confined to workshops that produce little tangible change on the ground.
The answer to unemployment in the EC may not lie only in large national investment summits or national programmes, It may very well begin in our wards, villages, townships and communities
Disclaimer: He is writing on his own capacity.
Excellent proposal by Sibonelo. For rural towns especially in the former Transkei, we must also reflect on what has worked for our communities over generations. Indigenous knowledge from cooperative farming to communal land use, offers practical solutions to everyday issues our people face. Policies must be people‑centred, with government schemes designed to complement what’s already on the ground, not smother it with red tape. Ward‑based entities can then become true catalysts: repurposing unused schools and municipal buildings into hubs of opportunity, coordinating land access, and mobilising grassroots innovation. If we align modern governance with local wisdom, we can build sustainable economies that speak directly to the realities of our wards, villages and townships.