Chapter 10: Conclusion and Recommendations
2.5 LOCAL GOVERNMENT
2.5.1 Transformation of Local Government in South Africa
The apartheid value system in South Africa manifested itself at the local government.
Communities of different races were separated by law and administered by separate authorities. This resulted in some communities being more privileged than others (Cloete, 1995: 2 and Ismail, Bayat & Meyer, 1997: 46). Since then, local government in South Africa has undergone many phases. According to Craythorne (2003: 9), although this has occurred, there are still characteristics of the past local government in the present local government. This section shows the various phases that local government has undergone from the 18th century to date.
2.5.1.1 Period: The 18th to the 19th century
During the 18th century, local government was centralised. It used a Dutch system of Landdrosten and Heemraden. The Landdrost was a government official with local government function, while the Heemrade were (white) citizens appointed by the governor (Craythorne, 2003: 9-10 and Ismail, Bayat & Meyer, 1997: 39). Together, the Landdrost and Heemrade concluded matters by way of majority decisions (Lourens & de Beer, 1995: 24).
During the 19th century, various legislations were introduced for the two British colonies of the Cape and Natal. This includes the Cape Municipal Ordinance of 1836 that introduced the principle of local tax. The 1840 Ordinance instituted the setting up of an elected board in Cape Town. In 1867, new legislation resulted in the election of councillors.
The legislation that brought significant changes was the 1854 ordinance. This ordinance was based on the local government laws in England. The following concepts resulted from the legislation (Craythorne, 2003: 10):
Constitution of towns as corporate bodies.
Election of representatives by voters registered on the voters roll.
Councils decided on a local tax (rates) levied on property that has been valued.
Appointment of councillors.
Senior officials (including town clerk) were appointed, not elected.
Introduction of the committee system.
Most of these characteristics are still prevalent in the current local government set-up.
For example, the local government Municipal Property Rates Act (No 6 of 2004) is still centred on the powers of municipalities to impose property rates. Furthermore, senior officials in municipalities (referred to as Section 57 employees) are appointed by Municipal Councils in terms of the Municipal Structures Act (No 117 0f 1998). In terms of auditing, municipalities have to be audited annually in terms of the provisions of Section 126 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (No 56 of 2003).
2.5.1.2 Period: 1900-1983
The apartheid regime created separate local authorities based on the four racial groups in South Africa. While the white local government system was endowed with resources, the other three systems were inferior and not viable. As Van der Waldt and Helmbold (1995: 89) clearly indicate, prior democracy, black authorities had no sustainable source of revenue and were not financially viable. During this period, there was more focus on rationalisation of previous legislation and enactment of new legislation. There was also an attempt on political reform (Craythorne, 2003: 10).
Three important legislations that were later enacted to govern local government to bring about political reform were:
(a) The Promotion of Local Government Affairs, Act 91 of 1983
This Act established a Council for the coordination of local government affairs. It
coloureds, Indians and blacks‟ local government and persons appointed by the minister. The council did not have any decision-making powers, but could only recommend to the Administrator. The Council was as such, quite toothless (Craythorne, 2003: 11).
(b) The Regional Services Council Act 109 of 1985
In terms of this Act, a Council was established as a platform for joint decision-making by institutions representing different race groups. Interesting though, is the fact that the Council could only decide on general affairs. General Affairs were mainly matters that did not affect any race group in the maintenance of its identity and the furtherance of its culture (Craythorne, 2003: 3). Since black people were a general affair (Craythorne, 2003: 11), one would assume that matters affecting blacks were the ones decided jointly at the Regional Service Council, and not matters affecting whites, coloureds and Indian race groups or own affairs.
According to Craythorne (2003: 11), the positive thing about this Act is that it gave local government a source of income. It should be mentioned that except for KwaZulu and Natal, in all other provinces homelands were excluded from this arrangement. This deepened poverty and resulted in huge backlogs in services and development (Craythorne, 2006: 11).
(c) The Interim Measures for Local Government Act 128 of 1991
This Act allowed local communities to negotiate various issues like total amalgamation of various forms of resource sharing or establishment of joint services bodies (Craythorne, 2003: 11). The challenge, however, was that the proposals had to be approved by the Provincial Administrator who was appointed by the State President (Craythorne, 2003: 11).
2.5.1.3 Period: 1984-1994
The adoption of the Local Government Transition Act, 209 of 1993 provided a basis for restructuring local government in South Africa in that it compelled negotiations between political and civil society at local government level (Swilling in Reddy, 1996: 20 and Van der Waldt, 1995: 89). The Local Government Negotiating Forum
(LGNF) was established during this time to guide the local government transition process, parallel to the Kempton Park negotiations (Craythorne, 2003: 12 and Swilling in Reddy, 1996: 20). The formation of the forum was a result of persuasion from the South African National Civic Association (SANCO). The forum was constituted by representatives of central, provincial and organised local government (statutory delegation) and SANCO (non-statutory). According to Reddy (in Reddy, 1996: 58) the establishment of the LGNF was a breakthrough for reform of local government in South Africa. The approach for the negotiations was to develop both the interim and final local government plans (Reddy in Reddy, 1996: 59-61 and Van der Waldt & Helmbold, 1995: 90-91).
Agreements reached during the negotiations were that local government transformation would take place in three distinct phases:
The first phase (pre interim phase) would be the period from the adoption of the Local Government Transition Act to the elections. It provided for the replacement of sitting councillors with appointed councillors. This phase would end with the first elections of local government.
The second or interim phase started with the first local government elections (of 1995 and 1996) and ended when the new Constitution took effect.
The third phase and final phase would be governed by the provisions of the final Constitution (Craythorne, 2003: 12-13).
The Act provided space for all those directly involved in local government to participate in matters of local government. This was something new and it totally transformed local government in South Africa. It was during this phase that various bodies like the Local Government Co-ordinating Committee (LGCC) or Transitional Local Councils for non-metropolitan urban areas were formed.
It is very clear that during this time, great strides were made in transforming local government from what it was during the apartheid era. Another milestone in terms of local government transformation was reached as per the Agreement on Local Government Finances and Services, 20 January 1994. The following is worth noting with regard to the implementation of the changes:
Service Delivery: It was agreed that with regard to service delivery, in the short-term the goal would be to provide services to meet the individual‟s basic health and functional requirements. The medium-term goal would be to provide services to enable sustained economic growth, while the long-term goal would be to provide equal and equitable access to services to all residents.
Finances: Municipal finances would be based on the principle that each municipality should have a tax-base. This meant that each municipality should have a tax base in order to be sustainable.
Tariffs and payment for Services: It was agreed that tariff structures should take into account poverty and unemployment. It was further agreed that cost recovery should be an important principle on which service delivery should be based.
Taking into account the provisions of the agreement, it is quite clear that most of the provisions of the Constitution (Act 108 of 1996), White Paper on Local Government, Municipal Finance Management Act, and Municipal Property Rates Act as well as other policy documents governing local government, were informed by this framework.
2.5.1.4 Period: 1995-2000
The Local Government Transition Act (209 of 1993) remained in force until the first democratic local government elections that took place on 05 December 2000. This was after the adoption of the Constitution (Act 108 of 1996) on the 8th May 1996. In between the adoption of the Constitution and the democratic local government elections, the Local Government Transition Act (209 of 1993) was amended to deal with issues like rural local government, financial matters, termination of provincial demarcation boards, and so on (Craythorne, 2003: 13). During this period, several
legislations that totally transformed local government were passed, as indicated below:
(a) Organised Local Government Act 52 of 1997
Section 163 of the Constitution provides for the establishment and recognition of national and provincial organisations representing municipalities (RSA, 1996). The Organised Local Government Act (52 of 1997) was enacted in line with this constitutional mandate. In keeping with the provisions of this Act, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) was established to represent municipalities in various forums like the NCOP and the Financial and Fiscal Commission (Organised Local Government Act 52 of 1997, and Craythorne, 2003: 14). This Act ensures that municipalities are active participants in the affairs of the country.
(b) Local Government Municipal Demarcation Board Act 27 of 1998
This Act provides for the establishment of the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB), whose function is to determine municipal boundaries as per Chapter 7 of the Constitution. Section 23 of the Act mandates the board to adhere to the following criteria when determining a municipal boundary (Local Government Municipal Demarcation Board Act, 27 of 1998):
- Enable the municipality to fulfil its constitutional obligations.
- Enable effective local governance.
- Enable integrated development.
- Have a tax base as inclusive as possible of users of the municipal services in the municipality.
The Act clearly mandates the board to make it possible for the municipality to discharge its objectives as mandated by Section 152 of the Constitution.
(c) Local Government Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998
The Act provides for the establishment of municipalities, and defines the type of municipalities, as well as the divisions of powers and functions between the
categories of municipalities. It also regulates internal systems of municipalities (Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998). This legislation provides for the establishment of structures, their functions and powers within local government.
(d) Local Government Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000
The Act provides for the development of Integrated Development Plans, which is a plan that supersedes all other plans that guide development at local level. The Act provides a framework for systems that municipalities must put in place to function properly. It provides a framework for planning, performance management, resource mobilisation and organisational change that underpin the notion of developmental local government (RSA, 2000). The development of the Act was mainly to address the challenges that resulted from local government under apartheid that failed dismally to meet the needs of the majority of South Africans (RSA, 2000).
The Act provides for concepts like community participation that should be central to municipal activities. This is to give effect to Section 195(1) (e) of the Constitution, which maintains that people‟s needs must be responded to and that the public must be encouraged to participate in decision-making (RSA, 1996). This is the opposite of what happened in the past, where the apartheid system controlled local government without effective participation of other racial groups.