Document: Maluti-a-Phofung LM: LED Strategy

Maluti-a-Phofung (MaP) is a local municipality in the Free State which has done all the right things to prepare for Local Economic Development; but which is still far away from actually implementing the necessary actions that will transform this very poor area into the thriving hub that the Local Municipality aspires to.

In its aspirations, Maluti-a-Phofung is not unlike any of the other local (and for that matter) district municipalities in the Province and elsewhere in South Africa. The following factors describe the status quo of Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality:

• The Municipality scores very low on the multiple deprivation scale and of the ten most deprived wards in the entire Free State province, six are situated in MaP;
• The population of the local municipality totals about 425,000, of which 54% are female;
• Depending on the source, the number of employed persons in MaP varies between 50,000 and 58,000;
• The total number of households is about 117,000; which implies that there is one income earner for more than two households; T
• The average personal income is about half the national average, whereas the average household income is less than a third of the national average; 
• MaP’s unemployment rate (64%) is not the same as the rest of the Free State in general, and the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality specifically;
• Around 19% of all those who could potentially have done secondary education have actually not had any secondary schooling at all. This is on par with the provincial average; 
• The population profile is characterised by a substantially larger decline per 5 year age gap than is evident in the rest of the province. Comparison with other relevant data leads to a preliminary conclusion that this is due to higher rates of mortality than elsewhere in the province; 
• The sector analysis shows that most people (that is, of those that are employed) are employed in the social services sector; 
• This analysis also shows that the most significant contributions to the gross operating profit for the MaP area come from retail trade, household goods and appliances and financial services, and contrary to their mandate it would appear that the social and community services sector are in the same league as the three commercial sectors; 
• The share of wages in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors is low and equally their contribution to the gross operating profit is insignificant.