Description
In 2001 government indicated that direct action was required to
overcome these conditions. The Urban Renewal and Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programmes were launched to address underdevelopment in the Presidential poverty nodes (see www.dplg.gov.za for more information on these programmes). The intention was for government to intervene in the Presidential poverty nodes through a process of intergovernmental cooperation
that would be fostered by an integrated approach to policy and planning. Following a review of these programmes in 2005, the Department of Provincial and Local Government established a Programme of Action “for building productive and sustainable nodal economies”, to accelerate the development of the areas defined as Presidential poverty nodes. It concluded that the essential economic development problem in the nodes is that, notwithstanding considerable effort, the urban and rural development programmes are not generating sufficient economic activity to underpin sustained development. The review suggested that the economic development problem is made up of six components.
