Local Economic Development (LED) aspires to build the economic capacity of a local territory and improve the economic future and quality of life of community members. The purpose of the study on which this article is based was to determine the perceived contribution of township enterprises (TEs), known as community-based enterprises (CBEs), on LED in Mabopane, Northern Gauteng, following a survey design and developing recommendations for Local Economic Development. A total of 741 respondents, categorised into community individuals, formal and informal TEs, participated in the research. T-tests and Cronbach's Alpha were used to analyse data. The results revealed that the perceived contribution of TEs on human capital development in Mabopane was insignificant. Although TEs are perceived as having a positive contribution on LED through internal networks, and social and cultural capitals, this contribution was seen to be relatively l