An Appraisal of the Implications of the Limpopo Provincial Government’s International Relations Activities, South Africa

This paper seeks to appraise the social, economic and developmental implications of the international relations activities embarked on by the Limpopo provincial government. This appraisal is undertaken against the backdrop of scarce literature findings and empirical studies to gauge the outcomes of the paradiplomacy in South Africa. This mammoth task is indispensable to ensuring that there are efficacious palliatives to international relations activities and conundrums. To attain data, an exploratory qualitative research design was adopted to carry out an in-depth empirical analysis with purposefully selected knowledge practitioners. The paper was grounded upon the social constructivism theory. The paper findings unveiled that the Limpopo government’s case resonates with the experiences of other developing countries where international relations evolve under the shadow of national foreign policy processes. In this way, to some extent, it harnesses lucrative socio-economic spin-offs for the development of the province. For most of the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed by the Limpopo Province, the few challenges noted by the authors were the concerns in terms of the inadequacy or non-availability of implementation agencies to coordinate the planning and execution of programmes and projects that promote the objectives of the MoU, lack of resources and the constitutionality challenge. The paper recommends the establishment of agencies to monitor the implementation of programmes and projects that promote the objectives of the MoU.