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The potential of sustainable coastal tourism as a driver of economic development within Mthunzini area, Umlalazi Municipality, Kwazulu-Natal
Get PDFA dissertation submitted to the Department of Development in fulfillment of the Requirements for a Master of Arts in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zululand, 2021.The South African government through ‘Operation Phakisa’ targets the oceans’ economy as a driver for the Nine-Point Plan, which intends to ensure development, transformation of the economy, job creation and unlocking a multitude of opportunities for investment. Amongst many sectors within the oceans economy, tourism has been identified by all spheres of government as a sector with potential for economic development that must be enhanced. This is particularly important in view of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 14, which advocates for conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development and SDG 8 which promotes sustainable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. This study argues in response to the South African authority to call for the feasibility of creating a vibrant economy through the development of tourism resources of Mthunzini coastal Area in uMlalazi Municipality of South Africa. This study was premised on the sense that economic development cannot be divorced from environmental sustainability. To this end, the study employed the Ecological Economics theory to strengthen arguments for economic possibility with a strong emphasis on the concept of sustainable development. This study adopted a qualitative research approach, and data was gathered through semi- structured interviews with (n=16) participants. The data was analysed using thematic and content analysis. The study revealed the significance of sustainable coastal tourism as a catalyst for economic development in terms of improving the livelihood of the community, job creation, and infrastructure development. The implications of these findings include the need to strengthen public private partnership (PPP) as a mechanism to leverage funding, maintenance, and development of the infrastructure, improve educational programs and awareness and investing extra efforts to market and advertise Mthunzini more efficiently, and possibly make the town to reach a Blue Flag status. Marine tourism, aquaculture development were recommended and suggested areas of further research in expediting the Operation Phakisa Oceans Economy
Management Model to Strengthen integration of Information and Communication Technology in Pedagogic Practices at Selected Zululand District Schools
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Philosophiae Doctores in the Department of Educational Foundations and Management at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2021.The aim of the study is to design a management model to strengthen integration of
information and communication technology in pedagogic practices at selected
Zululand district schools. The model seeks to provide clarity for school management
teams (SMTs) in terms of how they can effectively embed ICT resources into their
pedagogic practices. It also guides school leaders and education providers in creating
a shared vision for how technology can best meet the needs of learners. The
management model is a distinct body of ideas that offers school managers guidelines
for how best to fulfil their leadership and management tasks.
There seems to be no proper management for strengthening integration of ICT into
pedagogic practices. Schools seems to be lagging in terms of ICT integration in
teaching and learning. The educational practice is not in line with the ambition to
integrated ICT into teaching and learning. The study was embedded in the theory of
change (ToC). A theory of change is the manifestation of the essential beliefs and
assumptions that guide transformation strategy. It is a guide that puts emphasis on
what you want to achieve rather than what you want to do. Theory of change provides
a very powerful learning lens, which guides school management teams (SMTs) to ask
themselves simple but important questions about what they are doing and why they
are doing the study.
This study adopted participatory action learning and action research (PALAR).
PALAR, just like theory of change, helped move participants from being passive
collectors and reporters of information to active users of information for the
management model to strengthen the use of ICT in their classrooms. A qualitative
dimension was used to gather participants’ perspectives at each stage of the research
process. Qualitative research highlights what happens and what is discovered in a
real-world context without controlling and manipulating what is being explored.
A total of eight (8) participants were purposefully selected from four (4) schools and
the district office. District officials included were directly involved in the management
of ICT and curriculum. The participants chosen had shown interest and have
experience in ICT and curriculum delivery. The study used focused group discussions
to collect data. Data was analysed, presented and interpreted using thematic analysis.
Based on the findings and informed by the data, the study proposes a management
model with four components that emerged during the research proces
Biophysical characterisation of the interaction between the S.mansoni G4LZI3 protein and the NAD binding domain of glyceraldehyde-3 phosphate dehydrogenase
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering in fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Sciences in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2021.Schistosomiasis remains a continuous social and economic development burden especially in
sub-Saharan Africa where more than 80% of people infected reside. It has been labeled the
hotspot of global burden where the most neglected tropical diseases are concentrated. Several
countries have, however, made considerable progress in control of the schistosomiasis morbidity
through mass drug administration of Praziquantel (PZQ) to school-aged children and other high risk individuals. Although, the extensive use of PZQ as the main drug readily available for large
scale treatment of schistosomiasis in most of African regions has raised concerns regarding the
emergence of PZQ-resistant schistosome species. The design and development of an alternative
drug and/or vaccine against the disease has become an urgent requirement. Hence this study
aimed to explore an interaction between two Schistosoma mansoni proteins, G4LZI3 and the
NAD binding domain of G3PDH, that are crucial for protection and energy generation of the
worm post intra-mammalian invasion. Prior to the in vitro studies, numerous bioinformatics
studies were done in order to obtain and examine the conformation of the structures of the two
proteins for a preferred alignment prior to interaction. Additionally, the employment of these
studies facilitated a better understanding of the physico-chemical properties of the proteins as
well as their behavior upon binding and also ‘fishing’ of a potential inhibitor. Molecular docking
was employed, which yielded a suitable conformation with minimum binding scores and high
binding affinity of the two proteins with the inhibitor (pentalenolactane). The yielded
conformation was subjected to molecular dynamics simulation which included RMSD, RMSF
and RoG in order to investigate the conformational transformation on the complex Apo-G4LZI3
and smNAD binding domain of G3PDH upon binding of the inhibitor. With the success of the in
silico studies, the G4LZI3 protein was recombinantly expressed and purified to homogeneity to
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yield an amount of 12,63mg/ml, which is sufficient to carry out further studies. However, even
though the smNAD binding domain protein was successfully over-expressed in bacteria, it was
very difficult to achieve complete homogenous purification of this protein thus, downstream in
vitro interaction experiments could not be conducted. However, the results obtained from the in
silico study provides a comprehensive evidence for future studies based on the design and
development of a drug/vaccine for schistosomiasis.
Key words: G4LZI3, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, molecular dynamic
simulations, Praziquantel, Schistosoma mansoni,
The nature and extent of state formation process under emperor Shaka Zulu and its impact in Southeast Africa
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Arts in the Department of History at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2021This study delves deep into and examinesthe nature and extent of state formation process under
Emperor Shaka Zulu and its impact in Southeast Africa. State formation is the initial act of
physically endowing a given territory with sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is done
via several methods. First, it may be through the annexation of territory. Perhaps a very rare
instance is voluntary cooperation by independent territories to form a new state. The second
stage is that of creating political order, institutions or political leadership among others. This
stage refers to the process of instituting a government and political order that enjoy sufficient
legitimacy and authority. At that stage, the average role of the military may be required. The
third stage is that of nation-building, which refers to the process of infusing the peoples of a
given territory, who otherwise differ as regards custom, religion and sometimes language, with
a sense of common belonging and shared identity or in short, what could be called ‘national
integration’. Using a collection of both primary and secondary sources this argue argue that
Zulu state which emerged in the early 1820s in Southeast Africa was forged out of many
disparate chiefdoms practising different customs, speaking different dialects and claiming
varied historical origins. The Zulu existed amongst other great independent nations – some
were never going to allow themselves to be vassals of another kingdom. In that case, Emperor
Shaka either befriended them or declared war on them. The consequences of the rise of the
Zulu state were far-reaching, as migrations into the interior by attacking splinter groups from
coastal communities resulted in countless refugees and the flight of various groups further
inland. This created dislocated African communities over large areas. Despite previous
theories, which have been used to understand the process such as the great man theory, or self made leader theory, historians now agree that leaders are mainly produced by the
circumstance of the time. The present study opted to use adopt the Power Transition and Role
Theories. These theories were of importance to understand the different role played by certain
individuals in the process of state formation. These theories also help understand how the
transition from agrarian societies to a centralised government
Tense errors in English committed by FET high school learners in the Lower Umfolozi Circuit: their implications for communicative competence
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Art in the department of English at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2021.The study was set to establish if the explicit teaching of English grammar could improve the tense competence of the high school learners (FET-PHASE) of the Lower Umfolozi Circuit. The aim was premised on the knowledge that there is interlink between the English tense competence and the English communicative competence as a whole. That is, the status of the learners’ English tense competence was vital for the learners’ acquisition and application of English language generally. Moreover, the study viewed tense as the heart of many errors committed by the members of the population and so it had a potential, if handled correctly, of providing a relevant solution. According to Rahman and Ali (2015), citing Bardovi-Harding (2000), English tense is one of the two major parts of grammar in the teaching of language and subsequently constitutes a major part in the language teaching syllabus. By adopting the One-group Pre-test Post-test Design, the study managed to, firstly, establish the English tense competence level of the learners before the insertion of the teaching manipulation (the dependable variable). Secondly, the said design enabled the study to experiment the explicit teaching approach on the population whose results verified the remarkable effectiveness of the approach. That is, the respondents’ performance levels in the pre-test and the post-test respectively were not the same. The respondents’ performance results of the post-test surpassed their performance results of the pre-test although both tests assessed the same respondents on the same subject, tense. Since, the performance results of each test represented the level of tense competence that the respondents had at the time of the writing of the corresponding test, the results proved that the respondents’ tense competence level at the time of the writing of the post-test was higher than what it had been at the time of the writing of the pre-test. Therefore, the study results did not only show improvement in the learners’ tense competence, but also evidenced the relevance and effectiveness of the explicit teaching of grammar approach to the high schools of the Lower Umfolozi Circuit. This was so because the higher tense competence shown by the respondents in the post-test, logically, came as a result of the explicit teaching intervention that was conducted by the researcher in-between the two tests. Subsequent to the above mentioned findings of the study, the study made a number of recommendations. With the implementation of the recommendations, the high school learners of the Lower Umfolozi Circuit would have an improved English tense competence would impact positively on their application of the English language in general
An exploration of cultural practices in relation to women's social experiences in rural communities, a case study of King Cetshwayo District Municipality.
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in the fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Art in the department of Development Studies at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2021.This study is an exploration of the scale of the harmful impact of the cultural practices on women in rural communities. Itexplored the impact of: ukuthwala (bride abduction), ilobolo (bride price), female genitals mutilation, virginity testing, ukungena (levirate custom), African rituals, traditional initiation, wife beating and polygamy on women which are cultural practices that the study paid focuson. These practices were explored within King Cetshwayo District Municipality(KCDM), KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa. The study set out to achieve six specified objectives: (i)to explore the experiences of women within societies practices are administered and assist them to reflect on those experiences(ii)to determine the challenges encountered by women due to customary rules, and their coping means(iii)to identify measures put in place to assist women living under customary rules(iv)to determine positions of women in structures in which traditional rules are imposed(v)to put forward interventions which protect women’s rights against discrimination (vi) to determine if the cultural practices discriminate against women and if so how far such discrimination goes and it was premised on theoretical lenses of post-modern feminism which evolved within the third wave of feminism, African feminist theories, patriarchy theorization, critical theory and legal pluralism. Women within the rural community were given a chance to retell their own versions of cultural practices. Methodologically, the study used a qualitative approach which was guided by an in-depth semi-structured style of interviewing, and followed an exploratory research design. Data gathering methods comprised of semi-structured interviews with participants while data was collected through in-depth one-on-one interviews, narratives, notes taking and a focus group discussion of men. The study used non-probability methods of sample selection, specifically, snowball sampling combined with purposive sampling in order to confirm issues, validate, compare and collect more information. Using these techniques,a total of twenty women comprised the sample plus five men. Data was analysed qualitatively through thematic analysis. The study revealed the following: cultural practices are indeed a reality; they have an immense impact on women and they are viewed as manipulative practices that encourage the subordination of women. These are central to the performance of the rituals that continue to aggravate violence against women. Furthermore, it transpired that culture is incapable of holding its goalposts; the unfriendly policies on cultures are a driving tool to cultural practices’ elevation; political infiltration of cultures and community forums as avenues of cascading the benefits of the practices. The study discovered that despite legislative intervention and policy framework, cultural practices still persist among the African communities in KCDM. The reasons for this persistent existence are discussed, followed by recommendations for possible resolutions. The study concludes that cultural practices play a pivotal role in shaping men to demonstrate authoritative power on women
Percieved linguistic and communicative competence of bi/multilingual autistic children in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Art in the department of English at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2021.Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a severe brain-related neurodevelopmental disorder compared to many other childhood disorders. ASD is a lifelong global phenomenon and it is characterised by significant impairments in social, and communication skills with some repetitive or stereotypical behaviours. This study investigated the linguistic and communicative ability of children with ASD. The study specifically focused on the nature of socio-communication traits of children with autism in KwaZulu-Natal and sought to identify ways to enhance their linguistic and communicative skills. The main research questions of the study include: (i) What are caregivers’ perspectives about the prevalence of autism in KwaZulu-Natal and among different cultures? (ii) What communication methods are being employed to interact with autistic children? What is the disposition of parents, educators, speech therapists, and clinicians in KwaZulu-Natal Province towards the development and deployment of bi/multilingualism by autistic children? (iv) What are the neurocognitive and psycholinguistics bases for understanding autism, and for enhancing linguistic and communicative competence among autistic children in KwaZulu-Natal and its implications on their academic performance?
The study leaned on Theory of Mind (ToM) (including its embedded or expanded form—Explicit and spontaneous implicit ToM in ASD), Disruptive Connectivity Hypothesis (DCH), some psycholinguistic theories (Imitation, Nativism or Behaviourism Theory, Nativist or Innateness Theory, Mentalist/ Cognitive Theory/ Social-Cognitive Theory, Social-Pragmatic Theory) and some relevant neurolinguistics framework to explicate relevant concepts and the research problems interrogated by the study.
An embedded mixed method design was adopted by this study, and doing so entailed research design from both quantitative and qualitative paradigms. Data were collected through two sets of questionnaires (one for the parents, and another for the educators), as well through interviews. A face-to-face method was employed to administer the survey instrument. The survey targeted parents and educators in KwaZulu-Natal with a belief that the educators have been rendering service to children with ASD for some years and therefore have knowledge about ASD and social communication skills of these children. The interviews involved few educators, the speech and language therapists, and clinicians/ paediatricians, and the interviews were conducted in 4 research sites. This helped to dig deeper and explore the subtle difference in meaning, or opinion that the questionnaire might inadequately capture, and to also aid triangulation. The selection of sample size of the study was obtained through purposive and convenient sampling. Combining these sampling methods were necessitated by the impact of COVID-19,which made recruitment of research participants and gaining access to a larger number of them more difficult. A total of 60participantsparticipated in the study (36 parents and 16 educators responded to the survey; while 8 of the educators, 4 speech and language therapists, and 4clinicians/ paediatricians)were interviewed. The respondents who participated in the survey comprised of the parents and the educators; while the interviewees comprised of speech and language therapists, clinicians/ paediatricians, and the educators. Overall, the study findings indicated that the majority of children with ASD in this study could be categorized as those with low language abilities, and there was absence of pragmatic, vocabulary, word use and sentence structure, grammar, writing, articulation skills, and discourse and conversational principles among them. Only a few of them displayed little skills in these aspects of language and communication. The study also revealed that there was absence, or deficit or delay in language acquisition, production and development of these children; and the majority of them were nonverbal. As in the above-mentioned areas of language and communication, it was found that the production and comprehension of expressive and receptive languages in either L1, L2 or L3 word use and sentence structure also had neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic underlying. The study also found that the majority of the parents, educators, and speech and language therapists used words combined with demonstrations, signs, body language, gestures, and pictures as the main methods of communicating with them. Also, it was discovered that many children with ASD were brought to school very late (up to 15 years) and also failed to receive a replica of educational services including training on behavioral and social communication at home. The study found that the majority of the parents had limited
knowledge or awareness about ASD, and other caregivers or professionals like educators, speech and language therapists, and clinicians/paediatricians had little knowledge about the disorder. As shown by the study, ASD diagnosis was carried out mainly at a General Hospital, and it was found that ASD was not prevalent in one culture than the other. The study also found that virtually all participants believed that raising, training and educating these children with two or more languages would lead to confusion, and be detrimental to their cognitive ability and overall wellbeing. The study further found that an understanding that ASD has some relevant bases enshrined in neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics as well as brain functionality, may help in seeking combined or comprehensive support or services for enhancing both linguistic and communicative skills of affected children. As revealed by the study, the strategies employed by the educators, speech, and language therapists to teach and train children with ASD were sign language (including demonstration of tasks), pictures, songs and visuals. Fewer speech and language therapists employed modern audio-visuals like iPad and laptop. Likewise, only fewer educators consistently capitalized on each child’s unique strength during teaching and learning process. Routine and repetition of lessons were part of the teaching strategies that some educators employed. It was found that the majority of educators as well as speech and language therapists were not using comprehensive and unique pedagogical approaches such as all components of Structured Teaching strategies developed by TEACCH (Training and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped Children), AAT (which requires visualization of everything), and ABA specifically for enhancing linguistic and communicative skills. It is recommended that high level of awareness on ASD should be made a priority by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, and KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, mass media, and professionals in any field that relates to ASD. The above-mentioned government agencies should create avenues for having more psychologists and other specialist son neurodevelopmental disorders for easy detection and diagnosis of ASD using DSM-V criteria. Parents and caregivers should seek support after their children have been diagnosed with ASD. Having the right people, information, knowledge and action in place may help these children to have chances of increasing their linguistic and communicative competence.The study further recommends that professionals that work closely with parents and children with ASD should render support in whatever capacity they can; and parents should stick to those professionals that are giving them adequate attention, which may positively enhance behaviour and social communication of their children with ASD. Earlyjoint attention should be established between parents and their children with ASD for better introduction and exchange of varied verbal and nonverbal communication cues. Importantly, parents, educators, speech and language and other professionals should understand what works well for enhancing each child’s language and communication. The use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC, a form of assistive technology) is also suggested as it has proven to enhance social interaction and communication, executive function, and cognitive capability regardless of each child’s ability in verbal and nonverbal communication. It is also suggested that a combined use of words, sign language, songs, demonstrations, and other nonverbal cues should be attempted in some cases where assistive technology is not available. The study recommends further studies on understanding other frontiers that focus on ASD within the contexts of neurolinguistics, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic knowledge of educators, and speech and language therapists towards enhancing linguistic and communicative skills of individuals with ASD in South Africa and beyond
Information needs and seeking behaviour of Hepatitis B and C Patients at Ngwelezane Tertiary Hospital, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Get PDFSubmitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree. of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of information science at the University of Zululand.ABSTRACT The study investigates the information needs and seeking behaviour of patients with Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) patients at Ngwelezane Tertiary Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The objectives of the study were to identify information needs and information seeking of the behaviour of HBV and HCV patients, establish access and use of information by patients, determine the policies and resources supporting the provision and use of information by HBV and HCV patients, determine the role of counselling and education by healthcare professionals in providing information for HBV and HCV patients, ascertain factors contributing to the use of information by HBV and HCV patients, establish challenges of information provision and information seeking on HBV and HCV diseases, and recommend guidelines for the improvement of condition and information seeking on HBV and HCV. The study was guided by the comprehensive model of information seeking (CMIS) and the gratification and expectancy theory (UGET) to predict the patients’ information needs and information seeking behaviour. The study adopted a mixed-method approach to collect data. Hence qualitative data were collected from HBV and HCV patients using the purposive sampling technique, while quantitative data were collected from doctors and nurses using the probability cluster sampling technique. The researcher conducted interviews with individual Hepatitis B and C patients until data saturation was reached at eighteen interviews. Additional interview was conducted with senior administrative staff. Semi-structured printed questionnaires were administered to doctors and nurses that consented to participate in the quantitative data collection. The qualitative data aspect was coded and analysed according to themes. In contrast, the quantitative data aspect was analysed using a correlation test of FISHER and Chi-square test to describe the relationship between different modalities of respondents’ bio-data (doctors and nurses). Findings show that counselling and education are crucial for patients since they are “socially and psychologically” prepared to cope with treatment challenges. It recommends that the production of pamphlets in the local language (isiZulu) can serve as valuable resources needed to reduce the language barrier. Also, implementing the Department of Health guidelines on hepatitis and creating health-related education programmes, social awareness, and an electronic database are recommended tools that enable the patient to access information
Pre-Service Teachers' Acceptance of Learning Management Systems
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor of Education in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2021.Due to increased human and infrastructural requirements, face-to-face instruction in
higher education institutions is now stretched and mostly very expensive. Most
institutions are now exploring the possibility of large-scale online learning, which has
been accelerated by the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. This study
aimed to examine the factors that affect pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) acceptance and
the continued use of the Moodle learning management system (MLMS) in the context
of a South African rural university.
To understand the phenomena under study, a model with 11 constructs was designed,
underpinned by the technology acceptance model (TAM), and analysed using partial
least squares structural equation modelling. The model was divided into three parts:
external variables to the TAM (three factors), the TAM itself (five factors), and
continued use variables (three factors).
The study followed a quantitative design, for which data were gathered using a five-
point Likert scale questionnaire, with items whose responses ranged from 1 - strongly
agree, to 5 - strongly disagree, developed by the researcher in consultation with
previous studies. A stratified sample of 325 PSTs, selected from a population of 3 250,
participated in the study. A total of 252 respondents successfully completed and
returned the questionnaires, giving a comprehensive return rate of 77.5%. Descriptive
statistics from SPSS version 25 were used to analyse the demographic data, while
SmartPLS version 3 was used to analyse the measurement and structural models of
the study.
The results showed that the six variables identified to explain PSTs’ acceptance of the
MLMS were statistically accepted and that they combined to explain a substantive
66.9% of the variance in pre-service teachers’ behavioural intention to use Moodle,
which in turn explained a notable 48.9% of the variance in actual use of the MLMS.
Actual use of the system also explained 30.7% of the variance in PSTs’ confidence
and 35.2% in preparedness. These results showed that users were moving positively
in embracing the use of the MLMS.
The overall model showed that all 10 explanatory variables explained 66.5% of the
total variance in continued use. This means that the model is a good predictor of the
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factors that PSTs consider in their acceptance and continued use of the MLMS. Lastly,
the moderation results showed that demographic variables do not influence pre-
service teachers’ continued use of the MLMS.
Empirical evidence from this study showed that the developed model is statistically
valid and robust. It is recommended for use by stakeholders. PSTs are, therefore,
encouraged to fortify their use of the MLMS as they seek success in their studies.
Future research could be conducted to establish the 33.5% of factors not captured in
this model. Further studies are also encouraged to use a qualitative approach that
explores a deeper meaning into why respondents’ demographics failed to moderate
between actual use of the MLMS and its continued use.
KEYWORDS: Actual use, Continued use, Moodle learning management system,
Technology acceptance model, Pre-service teachers
Analysis of Local Economic Development Initiatives towards poverty mitigation within Big 5 Hlabisa local municipality: perspective of youth and municipal official
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Public Administration in the department of Public Administration at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2021.The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) were considered in advancing the LED initiatives. The national order set an obligation on the local government circle to promote economic movement from a grassroots level and expand formative economic activities. The LED initiatives were planned to magnify economic development, share the alleviation objectives, and incorporate previously excluded groups in social and economic life. Section 152 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) outlines the primary objectives of the local government (municipalities); Subsection (1) stipulates that (a) municipalities have to provide a democratic and accountable government for local communities; (b) ensure to provide services to local communities sustainably; (c) promote social and economic development. This study focused on youth community members’ perceptions of LED in the Mpembeni and Bazaneni local areas. The sample also included municipal officials within the Big 5 Hlabisa Local Municipality. The study's primary aim was to analyse LED initiatives towards poverty mitigation within the Big 5 Hlabisa Local Municipality. Qualitative methods were employed to collect and analyse data obtained from the youth community members and municipal officials with the LED department. Qualitative data were collected from the youth community members through questionnaires and from the municipality staff through interviews. The analysis of qualitative data was conducted through thematic analysis. This study and the identified problem were developed to analyse the possibility of LED initiatives to mitigate the poverty level and unemployment rate. For over two decades of democracy, “South Africa is still battling with the issues of poverty, inequality, unemployment, and hunger” (StatsSA, 2017). The study findings confirm South Africa’s remaining battle with the elevated level of poverty in rural areas and the high youth unemployment rate. The recommendations and innovative ideas may assist the municipality in facilitating the LED initiatives effectively through local community development