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which will guide it for five years. This means that the integrated development plan is linked
to the term of office ofthe elected counciL The newly elected council can adopt the lOP of
its predecessor or develop a new IDP. The form and content of an lOP document is largely
subject to the discretion ofthe municipality, with the exception ofcontents prescribed by the
MSA (Department ofProvincial and Local Government, 2003).
Integrated development planning is a process through which a municipality prepares a
strategic development plan. It draws together all the development objectives of a
municipality including LED, and formulates strategies to realise those objectives in an
integrated manner. This means that everyone is working towards the same goal. The lOP is a
comprehensive plan for the development of the local area. It includes a long-term vision, an
assessment of the existing level of social and economic development, the setting of
development priorities and objectives, spatial framework and land development objectives,
operational strategies, municipal budgeting and other resource allocation
[www.ecprov.gov.za/dhlgta/idp.s. (2008)].
By drawing together the development objectives, priorities, strategies and budgets in this way,
the IDP helps to ensure coordination between LED and the other initiatives of government.
The IDP is now the basic unit of planning for government as a whole at the municipal sphere.
Davids et aI.., (2005) asserted that the IDP allows a municipality or community to focus itself
and to develop a future-oriented vision, proactively positioning itself and adapting and
learning from a changing environment by managing a continuous SWOT analysis. Flowing
from the lOP, a municipality/community is able to conduct an organisational audit and
construct an institutional plan. On the basis ofthe on-going SWOT analysis, the municipality
can come to an understanding of its internal dynamics, and leams to manage change and
visualise its future.
A mergmg of the externalities with the intemalities results in an assessment of the
organisation's opportunities. This merging is frequently called SWOT analysis because it
brings together the organisation's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in order to
identifY a strategic niche that the organisation can exploit. In the light of the SWOT analysis
and identification of the organisation's opportunities. management re-evaluates its mission
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