The Role of Local Economic Development on Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises

This article aims at exploring the role of Local Economic Development (LED) in reshapingthe economy of South Africa through the promotion of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs)in local government. This paper is built on the post 1994 South African government concept ofgrassroots initiatives and community participation. With local government being viewed as a sphere ofgovernment, this meant that it is allocated a range of roles and responsibilities with respect to economicand social development. Therefore, the objective of the paper is to examine how the LED hascontributed to reshape the grass root economy of South Africa. The research design used in this articlewas a mixed method approach. In the qualitative method, data were collected by means of an extensivereview of government and public documents, academic books and articles. In terms of the quantitativemethod, SMME entrepreneurs in the Mbombela Local Municipality of the Mpumalanga Province,South Africa (SA) completed self-administered questionnaires. The findings point to the fact that SouthAfrica needs to make the SMMEs environment conducive and favourable for business purposes. LEDdoes contribute positively towards the growth of the economy of South Africa