Local economic development must be premised on a broader socio-economic transformation perspective based on the mobilisation, in the first place, of domestic capital resources (including public, parastatal, social and private domestic capital) around a coherent industrial strategy. The key challenge facing South Africa 's transition is the development of a coherent economic policy to drive a developmental path aimed at job creation and the eradication of poverty.
Therefore local economic development is central in building a people's economy which seeks to challenge the logic of the capitalist market whilst simultaneously building elements of and momentum towards socialism. A people's economy places the eradication of poverty at the centre of economic restructuring; strengthening the role of the state in directing major economic resources towards meeting the basic needs of our people; challenging the dominance of the capitalist market in the allocation of resources; and much more importantly harnessing the energies of the people towards economic transformation.
For the SACP, this active popular involvement in local economic development must be centred around the following strategic tasks: –
enhancing the role of the local state in local economic development through the use of its budget, the Integrated Development Plans, legislative and administrative power, procurement power popular mobilisation to set priorities and goals for local economic development and poverty eradication ensuring that local government and other public institutions at a local level act in a transparent, efficient and accountable way organised popular pressure, to overcome neo-liberal or bureaucratic or private sector resistance to transformation the building of popular, vibrant, strong and funtional Wards as the main organ around which other organs of People's Power are built and a central organ in local economic development Popular participation in local government budgeting, governance, service provision and local economic development Implementation of the ANC manifesto, in particular the provision of free basic services to all and the consolidation of the public sector at a local government level . In essence, the provision of free municipal services is not possible without the local state being in charge of service provision. Integrating the task of building co-operatives in the work of local government Mobilising local government to play a role in the transformation and diversification of the financial sector specifically and mobilisation of private capital in general through, for example, utilising its budgets and bank accounts to direct and discipline private finance capital towards development finance; awarding tenders to co-operatives; imposing conditions on banks; etc.
The above work implies the building of strong, functional , vibrant and dynamic local structures of the SACP, ANC, COSATU, SANCO, organs of people's power, etc. Only such structures will be able to undertake the above as a practical implementation of the political task to advance and deepen the NDR.
(Extract from BUA Komanisi, June 2002, Volume 2 No 3).
Source
Numsa News