ABSTRACT
Without doubt, Local Economic Development (LED) has become the buzzword in contemporary South African developmental circles (Binns and Nel, 1999; Nel, 2001). Taking their cue from successful international cases of various styles of locality-specific development strategies in both developed and developing countries, many national policymakers, local development practitioners, and academics alike have jumped on the local economic development bandwagon in their attempt to infuse fresh new ideas and practices into South African development discourse. Nevertheless, it is evident that LED is not a magic cure or panacea for local problems. Currently, LED is in its incipient stages in South Africa and thus far has yielded only limited success (Lyons and Smuts, 1999; Nel and Humphrys, 1999; Nel and Binns, 2001). It is against this background that the aim in this chapter is to identify what prerequisites are necessary for the establishment of a successful local development initiative through a case study of the Noordhoek Valley in suburban Cape Town. This chapter argues that local economic development will flourish (or at least get on a sound footing) if localities have a strong social basis in which to ground development initiatives. Another precondition is that skills training—or more specifically appropriate skills training linked to the needs of local employers—is required to generate a form of local economic development which benefits more than just a privileged few.
