Digitalisation of SPLUMA to Enhance Smart Township Policies at Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality: Literature Paper

Globally, digital planning platforms enable municipalities to identify economic opportunities and optimize infrastructure investment in Africa. Digital spatial planning has similar potential, particularly in addressing historical spatial inequalities and informal settlement challenges. For example, in South Africa, the digitalisation of SPLUMA enables municipalities to efficiently process land-use applications, plan township upgrades, and integrate economic nodes into development frameworks, thereby creating opportunities for small businesses and local communities and streamlining land-use approvals, creating a more business-friendly environment. This paper examines how digital tools can bridge the gap between policy intent and practical outcomes, using Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM) as a case study. Key constraints include misalignment between political priorities and administrative capacity, fragmented planning and poor interdepartmental coordination, and limited institutional learning alongside weak community engagement. The findings of this study reveal that the implementation of smart township policies and the digitalisation of SPLUMA in EMLM is constrained by interconnected institutional factors. Firstly, there is a misalignment between political priorities and administrative capacity, which hampers translating policy intent into actionable programmes. Secondly, planning and coordination across municipal departments and spheres of government remain fragmented, resulting in duplication of efforts and inefficiencies. Thirdly, limited institutional learning and weak community engagement reduce the effectiveness of participatory processes, leaving local stakeholders underrepresented in decisionmaking. As a result, policies are often well-articulated in planning documents but remain weakly operationalised on the ground. Despite these challenges, the paper highlights opportunities to enhance LED through digital tools that can streamline planning, improve interdepartmental coordination, and foster meaningful community participation. Overall, the results demonstrate that institutional realignment, capacity-building, and participatory approaches are essential to ensure that SPLUMA digitalisation contributes effectively to inclusive and sustainable township development.