Crafting an Endogenous Developmental Pathway for the Mgobodzi Community, South Africa

Abstract

The Mgobodzi community of the Nkomazi Municipality is perceived as one of the most poverty-stricken and under-developed communities in South Africa. As an agendum to alleviating poverty, the government has employed a variety of developmental initiatives to accelerate development within this community. Despite the enormous investments and concentrated developmental interventions, little improvement has been noticed in regard to the state of poverty within this community as compared to the situation prior the kick-starting of these governmental interventions. In consonance, this study aims to propose an alternative developmental trajectory for this community through the ‘Endogenous growth theory’. The novelty of this research lies in its plausibility and dependence on insights from experienced rural development stakeholders, alongside beneficiaries of this community. The study found that the current rural development trajectory lacks crucial insights into the fundamental demands of this deprived community. The time of realism has set in for stakeholders to make more proactive interventions in addressing the awful specter of under-development and poverty epitomised amongst this community. Such realism is advocated in this research through the ‘conceptualisation of the endogenous growth theory’.