The Matjhabeng Local Municipality (MLM) is committed to addressing poverty and unemployment, in part by encouraging local economic growth and development.
As a program, LED is intended to maximise the economic potential of Matjhabeng local municipality's increased local economic growth, employment creation and development initiatives within the context of sustainable development. LED provides support to municipalities in terms of servicing the basic human needs and growing the role it has on the local economy.
Senior Manager
Manager Facilities
Acting Secretary
Acting Secretary
The purpose of the MLM LED Strategy is to align the vision of MLM with that of President Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address, 2019, where he stated, “We will therefore be focusing greater attention on expanding exports. In line with the jobs summit commitments, we will focus on the export of manufactured goods and trade in services such as business process outsourcing and the remote delivery of medical services” (SoNA, 2019).
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The agriculture sector is important for economic growth and stability, as it is primarily responsible for food security in the economy.
The standard of living of the population is impacted by the quantity and quality of food products produced by farmers in South
Africa.
Local farming is important to MLM as quality farms in close proximity are responsible for commodities, such as dairy,
vegetables and fruit, with short shelf-lives. The agriculture sector also provides employment for a large portion of the rural workforce.
The most common agricultural commodities produced in MLM include livestock, such as cattle, sheep goats and poultry; and
crops, such as maize, sunflower and teff grass.
Manufacturing, the largest secondary economic sector in Matjhabeng, involves industries aimed at transforming raw materials and
intermediary goods into final consumption goods. The sector is valuable for job creation when labour-intensive industries are
stimulated.
Manufacturing in the MLM includes participants in the production all the above-mentioned subsectors. The
largest producer of manufactured goods, in 2019, was the Petroleum, chemicals, rubber and plastic products sector, followed by
the Food, beverage and tobacco processors (including agroprocessing). As mining has declined in the MLM, the production of
metal and machinery products have declined. During the 10-year period
The mining sector, a part of the primary sector, has been the major economic driver in Matjhabeng since the 1960s, when Welkom
and the surrounding area experienced a gold rush, attracting large numbers of miners and subsidiary industries. The local
municipality’s industries have been dependent on the success of the local mines. Historically, a large proportion of the population
has been employed by the mines, as the operations of the mines are labour intensive.
In 2018, two of the stalwarts of gold mining in MLM: AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields, had sold or closed most of the mines in
their MLM portfolios, to focus on producing cheaper gold in foreign countries, such as Australia, Peru and Ghana.
Construction is considered an important contributor to employment and growth in the Matjhabeng LM. The construction sector
includes, but is not limited to Private Construction Projects, Tenders within the building sector, Main Contractors, Sub-Contractors
and Tradesmen.
The performance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) also has an impact on the construction industry, particularly
the civil construction. Due to the closure of mines in the Matjhabeng LM, the construction sector subsequently didn’t deliver on its
expected growth. Weak market conditions and a lack of government and private investment resulted in construction companies
not meeting its potential.
The Finance and Professional Business Services sector, hereafter referred to as the “Finance Sector”, includes services aimed at handling funds; improving the financial position of businesses through finance and management services; and business services. These services are categorised as tertiary sector industries and are an important part of aiding businesses to achieve goals and targets.
This section will elaborate on the Transportation, Storage and Communication Sector in terms of its economic growth, employment,
value chain, developmental opportunities and the availability of support. The Transportation, Storage and Communication sector
is responsible for moving goods, services and people, while logistics refers to the management of this resource flow.
The sector
includes activities related to providing passenger or freight transport, by rail, road, water or air and includes supporting activities
such as the operation of railway stations, terminal and parking facilities, cargo handling and storage, traffic control activities,
navigation and pilotage activities.
Electricity and gas are vital to South African households, businesses and municipalities. For most households in the MLM, electricity
is the principal source of energy. Businesses also make use of electricity to undertake and initiate production, to communicate,
and for various other uses.
Electricity is processed through three stages: generation, transmission and distribution. Gas is processed
through the manufacturing and distribution of gaseous fuels.
The public sector includes the economic activities of the three levels of government; education (private); health and social work (private); other community, social and personal services. The MLM LED structures, have been designed to ensure the MLM has the capacity to deliver the required services for economic development, therefore the standard of governance will determine the effectiveness of these structures.
Tourism is identified as a key driver of economic growth in South Africa. The sector is not an industry in the traditional sense due to
the intangible nature of it being based on the status and behaviour of the consumer.
Tourism is significantly growing on a global
scale while the economic independence between countries increases. Thus, it is becoming essential that a common language
must be establish through which tourism statistics can be defined and measured. Due to the lack of availability of tourism data,
especially on a local level, an overview will be provided in terms of the tourism sector and its development.
