Institutional Challenges to Community Development: The Case of Kobodi Administrative Area in the Mnquma Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Luleka Mkosi 
Issue: Vol.6 No.8 Article 28 pp.1655 – 1670
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20256828 | Published online 25th July, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
South Africa’s key community development challenge is to overcome the legacy of colonialism and apartheid, characterised by racially segregated settlement patterns and unequal distribution of resources. The black rural communities are impoverished because they were discriminated against in terms of the distribution and access to resources and infrastructure under the apartheid system. Regrettably, due to institutional challenges, community development efforts have not been able to significantly impact the rural social economies of disadvantaged communities. Therefore, the study investigated the institutional challenges that hamper community development in impoverished rural communities, using the Kobodi Administrative Area as the case under investigation. The study used a qualitative descriptive research method to generate and analyse the data. Therefore, probability and non-probability sampling techniques were used to select the 27 informants. The area has unequivocally identified the lack of agricultural services, poor infrastructure, unequal distribution of resources, and inadequate education as the primary barriers to community development. The study confidently recommends prioritising skills and knowledge development for community members and development practitioners as a necessary step toward overcoming these challenges. This study contributes to the scholarship on rural development and institutional challenges in post-apartheid South Africa by providing empirical insights from the Kobodi Administrative Area. It extends existing literature by critically illustrating how historical legacies of inequality, combined with present-day institutional inefficiencies, continue to undermine community development efforts in rural contexts. By identifying specific, the study offers a solid understanding of the structural and operational impediments to rural advancement.
Keywords: Institutional Challenges, Community Development, Discrimination, Poverty, Unemployment.
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Luleka Mkosi is a committed academic and higher education professional currently pursuing a PhD in Political Science at the University of Pretoria. She holds a Bachelor of Administration (Public Affairs), a Bachelor of Social Science Honours in Political Studies and International Relations, and a Master of Arts in Political Studies and International Relations, all from Walter Sisulu University. She serves as an Administrator in the Directorate of Postgraduate Studies at Walter Sisulu University, where she provides vital support in postgraduate academic coordination, research administration, and institutional development. Ms. Mkosi is also an integral part of the organizing task team for the university’s Multi-Inter-Transdisciplinary Conference (MITC), which brings together scholars from various fields to foster collaborative research and innovation.Her academic interests focus on political governance, rural development, climate resilience, and public policy, with a strong grounding in Afrocentric and critical development perspectives. Passionate about advancing research and empowering emerging scholars, she continues to make a meaningful contribution to higher education and knowledge production in South Africa.
Mkosi, Luleka. “Institutional Challenges to Community Development: The Case of Kobodi Administrative Area in the Mnquma Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no. 8 (2025): 1655–70. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20256828.
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
