A vibrant structure as first line for service delivery {writer: Leon Alberts}

Established and mandated in terms of its Constitution, South Africa has one of most modern, vibrant and sophisticated systems of local government in the world – functioning as a fully fledged level of government in its own right, and the closest to the citizens of the country.

Local government, or municipalities, are mandated in terms of the Constitution to run local affairs subject to national and provincial legislation, but the latter may not compromise or impede the right of municipalities to exercise their constitutional powers and perform their functions.

The three levels of government in the country (central, provincial and local) function in line with the principles of co-operative government. In terms of the Constitution, the national and provincial levels of government must support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs.

To ensure this, the Constitution, among others, provides that legislation passed by the higher bodies must be published before being introduced, to allow local interests the opportunity to make representations.

Furthermore, in accordance with the Constitution and the Organised Local Government Act, 1997 (Act 52 of 1997) – which formally recognise organised local government associations – organised local government may designate up to 10 part-time representatives to represent municipalities and to participate in proceedings of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), which is the second House of Parliament of the Central Government.

The entire country is demarcated into local municipalities, each governed by an elected council where decisions are made and served by a municipal administration of officials and staff who implement the work of the municipality.

The council has to pass an annual budget for its municipality. In addition, it has to decide on development plans and service delivery strategies for its municipal area.

Stratified structure

To accommodate the needs and realities of different population densities and levels, and the nature of economic activities of different regions in the country, the Constitution makes provision for a stratified structure of local government:

Metropolitan municipalities, which exist in the six largest cities in South Africa, have more than 500 000 voters, and co-ordinate the delivery of services to the entire metropolitan area. These metropolitan municipalities exist in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and the East Rand.

They are divided into geographical wards for the purposes of the election of half of the councillors to represent those wards in the metropolitan council. The remainder are elected through a proportional representation ballot, where voters vote for a party to ensure, among others, that smaller groups of voters are assured of a voice in council deliberations. The remainder are elected as ward councillors by the residents in each ward.

Local municipalities are demarcated for larger urban areas outside the six metropolitan municipal areas.

As in the case of metropolitan municipalities, the local municipalities are divided into wards in which residents elect a councillor to represent them in the local council.

In the instance of local municipalities, half of the councillors are elected through a proportional representation ballot, where voters vote for a party.

District municipalities are made up of a number of local municipalities that fall in one district. There are usually between four and six local municipalities that come together in a district council.

Some district municipalities include nature reserves and the areas of low population density – called district management areas.

They fall directly under the district council and have no local council.

The district municipality has to co-ordinate development and delivery in the entire district; it has its own administration.

District councils are made up of two types of councillors, namely elected councillors – elected to the district council on a proportional representation ballot by all voters in the area, and constituting 40% of the district councillors; and councillors who represent the local municipalities in the area – thus, local councillors delegated by their respective local councils to represent them on the district council, and constituting 60% of the district councillors.

Metropolitan municipalities are responsible for all local services, development and delivery in their areas.

Local municipalities, however, share that responsibility with district municipalities, with primary responsibility for district-wide planning and capacity-building. This is particularly the case in very rural areas, where district municipalities will have more responsibility for development and service delivery than is the case with the larger urban areas.

Duties and responsibilities

National or provincial government can delegate certain responsibilities to municipalities.

When municipalities are asked to perform a function or deliver a service on behalf of another sphere of government, clear agreements are put in place about who will pay the cost. If municipalities are given responsibility for something without being given a budget to do the work, it is called an “unfunded mandate”.

Besides these delegated activities from the other two tiers of government, local government has constitutionally clear and well-defined functions as its specific responsibility:

• Electricity delivery;

• Water for household use;

• Sewage and sanitation;

• Storm-water systems;

• Refuse removal;

• Firefighting services;

• Municipal health services;

• Decisions around land use;

• Municipal roads;

• Municipal public transport;

• Street trading;

• Abattoirs and fresh food markets;

• Parks and recreational areas;

• Libraries and other facilities; and

• Local tourism.

For purposes of fulfilling its mandate, municipal councils have the powers to:

• pass bylaws – local laws and regulations about any of the functions for which they are responsible, provided that such bylaws do not contradict or overrule any national laws;

• approve budgets and development plans – this is executed via the passing of an annual budget and the development and approval of an overall plan for how development should take place in the area in terms of an integrated development plan to guide development projects and planning;

• impose rates and other taxes – property rates are a form of tax based on the value of properties, and a key source of income for municipalities;

• charge service fees for the use of municipal services and delivery of amenities such as water, electricity, libraries, refuse removal and many others;

• impose fines on anyone who breaks municipal bylaws or regulations, for example traffic fines, littering or library fines;

• borrow money for purposes of development, infrastructural or other project, and to use the municipal assets as surety; and

• contract with outside entities – be it public-private partnership or state – with enterprises of agencies for the purposes of specific projects or the delivery of services on an outsourced basis.

Council structures

The basic structure of all councils consists of the following elements:

• A mayor, who heads the council. The mayor is assisted in the day-to-day management of the municipality by an executive or mayoral committee that meets regularly to co-ordinate the work of council and to formulate recommendations to the full council;

• A speaker (except in very small councils), who chairs council meetings;

• Specialised committees of councillors for deliberations over specific issues of municipal functions; and

• Council meetings, where the full council acts as the decision-making body.

There are different types of mayors, executives and committees as set out in the Municipal Structures Act. In each province, the MEC for Local Government decides which types of structures will be used by different councils.

Many municipal councils make use of the system of ward committees to:

• get better participation from the community to inform council decisions;

• ensure there is more effective communication between the council and the community; and

• assist the ward councillor with consultation and report-backs to the community.

A ward committee may not have more than 10 members. The ward councillor serves on the ward committee and usually acts as the chairperson.

Ward committees, however, have no formal powers, but advise the ward councillor or make submissions directly to council.