Abstract:
South Africa faces many socioeconomic ills which
government cannot address on its own. Various
stakeholders need to come together to address the issues
of unemployment, poverty and inequality. Multi-stakeholder
partnerships (MSPs) are broadly defined as participatory
and collaborative forms of decision-making structures
involving key stakeholders willing to cooperate with one
another to attain set objectives. The United Nations’
Sustainable Development Goal 17 (SDG 17) emphasises
the importance of partnerships for achieving socioeconomic
development. These partnerships cannot be successful
without effective strategic communication. Thus, the
purpose of this study was to explore the role of MSPs
(SDG 17) in the revitalisation of job-creating industries in
South African townships (SDG 9). Many industrial areas
are forlorn and stranded following the withdrawal of the
decentralised industrial policy. A generic qualitative study
using semi-structured interviews was conducted in South
Africa’s Limpopo province. Twelve respondents participated and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The
study found that despite the withdrawal of incentives and
subsidies, township industries’ occupancy rate is high, yet
with little impact on job creation. The findings may assist
policymakers in reviewing township industrial policies.
