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A critical assessment of policy coordination in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme: the case of Riemvasmaak
Rural development has been a part of South Africa's policy agenda since the country's transition to democracy, but it has enjoyed new prominence since the ANC's policy conference at Polokwane in 2007 (ANC, 2008). This renewed interest in rural development as a policy priority culminated in the estab...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Political Studies
2016
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| _version_ | 1867613187583508481 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Maré, Annelie |
| author2 | Naidoo, Vinothan |
| author_browse | Maré, Annelie Naidoo, Vinothan |
| author_facet | Naidoo, Vinothan Maré, Annelie |
| author_sort | Maré, Annelie |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Rural development has been a part of South Africa's policy agenda since the country's transition to democracy, but it has enjoyed new prominence since the ANC's policy conference at Polokwane in 2007 (ANC, 2008). This renewed interest in rural development as a policy priority culminated in the establishment of the new Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and the adoption of its flagship strategy, the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP), in 2009. Even in its earliest incarnations, rural development was classified as a crosscutting policy problem beyond the scope of a single South African government department, therefore requiring horizontal coordination across sectors like land reform and agriculture, as well as vertical coordination with provincial departments serving concurrent functions. On the vertical plane, local government is also considered to be vital not only in identifying the needs of communities, but in their contributions to integrated planning processes. This study aims to examine the policy coordination mechanisms of the CRDP, including the new lead department tasked with its implementation, since the crosscutting nature of the policy problem necessitates such a wide variety of stakeholders coming together and taking a coordinated approach. The dissertation will focus on the town of Riemvasmaak in the Northern Cape as a case study, following a site visit and a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with officials from different spheres of government involved in the implementation of the new programme. The findings suggest that, despite the benefits of having a new national department, political support and financial resources at its disposal, policy coordination in the CRDP is not functioning as it should. The line between rural development and agriculture's mandates are becoming blurred, risking duplication between the two departments, while the CRDP's own chosen mechanism at grassroots, the Council of Stakeholders, seems to be duplicating existing Integrated Development Planning (IDP) processes at local government level. The findings also suggest that none of the chosen mechanisms proved adequate for resolving or overcoming conflict and other complexities hampering coordination at community level. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20610 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:09.918Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Department of Political Studies |
| publisherStr | Department of Political Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20610 A critical assessment of policy coordination in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme: the case of Riemvasmaak Maré, Annelie Naidoo, Vinothan Public Policy and Administration Rural development has been a part of South Africa's policy agenda since the country's transition to democracy, but it has enjoyed new prominence since the ANC's policy conference at Polokwane in 2007 (ANC, 2008). This renewed interest in rural development as a policy priority culminated in the establishment of the new Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and the adoption of its flagship strategy, the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP), in 2009. Even in its earliest incarnations, rural development was classified as a crosscutting policy problem beyond the scope of a single South African government department, therefore requiring horizontal coordination across sectors like land reform and agriculture, as well as vertical coordination with provincial departments serving concurrent functions. On the vertical plane, local government is also considered to be vital not only in identifying the needs of communities, but in their contributions to integrated planning processes. This study aims to examine the policy coordination mechanisms of the CRDP, including the new lead department tasked with its implementation, since the crosscutting nature of the policy problem necessitates such a wide variety of stakeholders coming together and taking a coordinated approach. The dissertation will focus on the town of Riemvasmaak in the Northern Cape as a case study, following a site visit and a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with officials from different spheres of government involved in the implementation of the new programme. The findings suggest that, despite the benefits of having a new national department, political support and financial resources at its disposal, policy coordination in the CRDP is not functioning as it should. The line between rural development and agriculture's mandates are becoming blurred, risking duplication between the two departments, while the CRDP's own chosen mechanism at grassroots, the Council of Stakeholders, seems to be duplicating existing Integrated Development Planning (IDP) processes at local government level. The findings also suggest that none of the chosen mechanisms proved adequate for resolving or overcoming conflict and other complexities hampering coordination at community level. 2016-07-22T13:15:38Z 2016-07-22T13:15:38Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20610 eng application/pdf Department of Political Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Public Policy and Administration Maré, Annelie A critical assessment of policy coordination in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme: the case of Riemvasmaak |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | A critical assessment of policy coordination in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme: the case of Riemvasmaak |
| title_full | A critical assessment of policy coordination in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme: the case of Riemvasmaak |
| title_fullStr | A critical assessment of policy coordination in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme: the case of Riemvasmaak |
| title_full_unstemmed | A critical assessment of policy coordination in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme: the case of Riemvasmaak |
| title_short | A critical assessment of policy coordination in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme: the case of Riemvasmaak |
| title_sort | critical assessment of policy coordination in the comprehensive rural development programme the case of riemvasmaak |
| topic | Public Policy and Administration |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20610 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mareannelie acriticalassessmentofpolicycoordinationinthecomprehensiveruraldevelopmentprogrammethecaseofriemvasmaak AT mareannelie criticalassessmentofpolicycoordinationinthecomprehensiveruraldevelopmentprogrammethecaseofriemvasmaak |