Institutional Voids: An Impediment to Social Enterprises in the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in South Africa

Abstract

This paper examines institutional voids as a possible impediment to harnessing and articulating the contributions of social enterprises towards the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in South Africa. It focuses on municipalities as sites for the implementation of development goals and the services of social enterprises. The findings show that institutional voids in the Integrated Development Plan which stem from the Constrained Development Focus of municipalities manifest in a Deficient Sector Engagement and Deficient Accountability for social entrepreneurship. These run counter to the policy and institutional coherence that is needed to successfully implement the SDGs. There is, therefore, a need to rethink the IDP process and incorporate the services of social enterprises.