Abstract
This research report examines the challenges of Local Economic Development (LED)
in South Africa’s mining regions, with a particular focus on tribal communities. It
introduces the novel Mining Dividend-Funded LED (MDLED) framework, designed to
enable communities to utilise mining royalties to transition away from a monoeconomy.
Fieldwork in Bapong 2, a village formed as a fringe group from Bapo ba Mogale and
now dependent solely on government grants after the closure of its paraffin mine,
revealed a critical limitation. The findings identify that the primary challenge is not a
lack of revenue, but severe governance failures in financial accountability and
strategic planning, compounded by the community’s exclusion from active mining
revenue streams.
This research extends the MDLED by proposing the complementary Trust Fund-
Funded LED (TFLED) framework, tailored for post-mining, grant-reliant communities.
Both frameworks are geared towards systemic governance and financial reform. Using
simulation, the study progresses from diagnosing the roots of distrust to proposing a
measurable framework for its resolution. Consequently, this research provides
integrated governance solutions for communities across the mining lifecycle. It offers
tailored models to empower them as active architects of sustainable development,
moving beyond their status as labour suppliers.