Working_Paper_Local_economic_developmentand_industrial_policy_December_

To that end, the first section outlines the role of four groups of municipalities in the economy: the largest metros (Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, Cape Town and eThekwini); the five secondary cities in Mpumalanga and the North West that depend on coal and platinum, which have seen an upsurge in the past 20 years; the smaller metros and other secondary cities, where the economic picture is. [...] The Master Plans should specify the demands on local governments, the costs to them as well as the benefits and risks, and proposals for negotiating them with the relevant authorities. [...] Causes included the decline in gold mining and steel production, paired with the rapid expansion in the platinum belt; the opening of the economy with the end of apartheid, which boosted agriculture and tourism but increased competition for other industries; the end of apartheid subsidies to industrial estates in “border areas” from 1994 to 2016; and the deepening climate crisis. [...] Generally, population growth was above the norm in Gauteng and new mining centres in the north of the country, and lower than average in the Eastern Cape and the Free State. [...] Possible blockages include, among others, the cost of time and resourcing for the planning process; the effectiveness of the platforms and systems established for collaboration across the spheres; and the capacity of municipalities outside of the metros to engage 15 meaningfully in the process.