The Constitution of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, states that government in the Republic is constituted of three ‘distinctive, interdependent and interrelated spheres’ of national, provincial and local government. The Constitution also enshrines the need for co-operative governance between these three spheres, each of which has particular functions and responsibilities. In Chapter 7 of The Constitution, national and provincial spheres of government are required to "support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs, to exercise their powers and perform their functions" (Section 154(1) of the Constitution, 1996). This sets the context for local government in the CMA.

 
Contents of CONTEXTUAL INFO on Governance:
National and Provincial government

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The national sphere of government is responsible for developing national policy, legislation and standards, which set the legislative framework for administration at the provincial and local levels (refer to Section D: Policy and Legislation). This legislation is administered by a number of national departments. National legislation is seen as important for the uniform application of legislation and to ensure among others "…the maintenance of national security and … economic unity, … the promotion of equal opportunity or equal access to government services or the protection of the environment" (The Constitution, 1996: 78). Provinces can pass a constitution and legislation, however provincial legislation must be consistent with the national constitution and legislation. The Western Cape Provincial Administration has its own constitution.

 
There are a number of areas of concurrent national and provincial legislative competence. Schedule 4 of the Constitution identifies these functional areas. Key among these are:
  • Agriculture
  • Education at all levels, excluding tertiary
  • Environment
  • Health services
  • Housing
  • Nature conservation (excluding National Parks, National Botanical Gardens and marine resources)
  • Police services
  • Pollution control
  • Public transport
  • Regional planning and development
  • Road traffic regulation
  • Soil conservation
  • Tourism
  • Urban and rural development
  • Welfare services

 
Functional areas of exclusive provincial legislative competence include:
  • Abattoirs
  • Ambulance services
  • Archives other than national archives
  • Liquor licenses
  • Museums other than national museums
  • Provincial planning
  • Provincial cultural matters
  • Provincial recreation and amenities
  • Provincial sport
  • Provincial roads and traffic
  • Veterinary services excluding regulation of the profession

 
The Provincial Administration: Western Cape executes its concurrent and exclusive powers and responsibilities through a number of departments, namely:
  • Department of Housing, Local Government and Planning
  • Department of Economic Affairs and Reconstruction and Development Programme
  • Department of Finance and Corporate Services
  • Department of Health
  • Department of Agriculture
  • Department of Social Services
  • Department of Environmental and Cultural Affairs
  • Department of Education
  • Department of Transport and Public Works

In the 1995/96 financial year, the Western Cape Provincial Administration’s expenditure was R5.2 billion and generated R346.7 million in revenue (PAWC, 1995/96). The budget of the Western Cape Provincial Administration is derived from the national state budget. Provincial government receives a share of the revenue raised nationally to enable it to provide basic services and to perform the basic functions allocated to it. These funds are supplemented by funds raised through the imposition of certain taxes, levies and surcharges.

In terms of the South African Constitution, national and provincial government "…must support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affair, to exercise their powers and perform their functions" (Section 154 (1)). These spheres of government are also required to assign to a municipality a matter that "would most effectively be administered locally, and [where] the municipality has the capacity to administer it" (Section 156 (4)).

 
South African National Parks

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There are a number of statutory bodies that have jurisdiction in terms of existing national legislation to manage certain areas and resources in the CMA. Key among these is the South African National Parks that is responsible for the management of the Cape Peninsula National Park. The 16 000 ha Cape Peninsula National Park was officially proclaimed in the Government Gazette on 29 May 1998 in terms of the National Parks Act 57 of 1976. This saw the incorporation of three large provincial reserves, namely the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, Silvermine and Table Mountain Nature Reserve, into the national park. The management, decision making and regulation of all activities within this park are solely the preserve of South African National Parks and all other provincial conservation and land use planning legislation ceases to apply.

Given the complexities of managing the urban edge of the park, the SANP has entered into bi-lateral forums with metropolitan local authorities and CMC. In order to manage development pressure in the long term, the SANP has entered into negotiations with private landowners and metropolitan local authorities and CMC to incorporate more land into the national park.

 
Local Government

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In terms of sections 151(3) and (4) of the Constitution, 1996 "a municipality has the right to govern, on its own initiative, the local government affairs of its community, subject to national and provincial legislation … [and] … national or a provincial government may not comprise or impede [its] … ability or right to exercise its powers or perform its functions."

 
The objects of local government are:
  • to provide democratic and accountable government for local communities;
  • to ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner;
  • to promote social and economic development;
  • to promote a safe and healthy environment; and
  • to encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in the matters of local government."

(Section 152 of the Constitution, 1996)

"In terms of the Constitution, a municipality must strive, within its financial and administrative capacity, to achieve these objects".

On 29 May 1996, the first democratic local elections marked the start of a new local government dispensation in the CMA. Local government in the CMA opted for a "two tier" system of metropolitan government, with a strong emphasis on local autonomy during the interim phase of restructuring. Seven local government bodies where subsequently established, namely the Cape Metropolitan Council and the six metropolitan local councils (MLCs) of Blaauwberg Municipality, City of Cape Town, Helderberg Municipality, Oostenberg Municipality, South Peninsula Municipality and the City of Tygerberg. A Powers and Duties Agreement was entered into on 9 December 1996 by all seven councils. The adoption of the functions and structure of these local government bodies in June 1997, brought to a conclusion the first round of local government restructuring. This process effectively reduced the number of Councils from more than 60 to seven, and local government administrations from 19 to seven (CMC, 1998a).

 
The seven local government bodies in the CMA are each run by a council made up of councillors representing either wards in their respective jurisdictional areas or the major political parties active in the CMA. Each of these local councils in turn elects from its members a mayor, deputy mayor and various standing committees

(Figure 1), and appoints a chief executive officer. The CMC is constituted through proportional (60%) representation of councillors from MLCs, with the balance elected by political parties. The macro-organisational design of these councils includes several functional directorates, each headed by an Executive Director.
Figure 1

Diagram showing the political structure of the CMC   (Source: CMC, 1998b)
fig8-1.gif (7485 bytes)
Metropolitan Local Councils

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Each local council has a complete infrastructure and administration to supply basic municipal services to its area (PAWC Gazette No. 5152, 1997), namely:
  • Water reticulation
  • Stormwater drainage
  • Waste water management
  • Solid waste management
  • Electricity supply and distribution
  • Transportation planning
  • Other transport facilities (such as ferries, jetties, harbours etc.)
  • Planning, provision and maintenance of roads
  • Passenger transport services and traffic matters
  • Spatial planning and environmental management
  • Municipal health services
  • Libraries
  • Museums
  • Cemeteries and crematoria
  • Abattoir and markets
  • Recreation facilities, amenities and sport promotion
  • Civil protection
  • Fire brigade services
  • Promotion of tourism
  • Promotion of economic development*
*NOTE: This function is not listed as a local government function in terms of the Local Government Transition Act (209 of 1993).
It is each council’s mandate to develop partnerships with their respective communities in order to bring about meaningful improvement in service delivery and local governance. This signifies a dramatic shift towards developmental local government. MLCs are largely dependent on income generated through rates and tariffs in respect of services.

 
Cape Metropolitan Council

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Chaired by an elected Metropolitan Mayor, a 60-member strong Cape Metropolitan Council directs the affairs of the council by making policy and programme decisions, raising revenue and approving budgets for its own functions and for distribution to metropolitan local councils. Previously, metropolitan wide functions were the responsibility of the former Cape Town City Council and to a lesser extent, the former Western Cape Regional Services Council.

 
The Cape Metropolitan Council is a co-ordinating and resource distributing authority and provider of specific metro-wide services. In terms of the Provincial Proclamation Gazette No. 5152 dated 30 June 1997, the CMC is responsible for:
  • Bulk supply of water
  • Storm water drainage
  • Bulk waste water management
  • Roads (adequate planning, policy co-ordination and financial provision for roads of metropolitan significance)
  • Transport planning, passenger transport services and other transport facilities (the CMC may provide airports other than provincial, national and international airports)
  • Traffic matters
  • Municipal health services (including integrated air and water pollution control)
  • Spatial planning and environmental management (involving the development, monitoring and review of strategies to manage and co-ordinate use of environmental resources at the metropolitan wide scale)
  • Libraries and museums
  • Cemeteries and crematoria
  • Abattoir and markets
  • Recreation facilities, amenities and sports promotion
  • Civil protection and fire brigade services
  • Promotion of economic development at the metropolitan wide scale*
*NOTE: This function is not listed as a local government function in terms of the Local Government Transition Act (209 of 1993).

As with the metropolitan local councils, the policy decisions in the CMC are made by standing committees, the Executive Committee and full Council. A number of standing committees are drawn from the ranks of metropolitan councillors and are empowered to make decisions on matters relevant to their areas of expertise or to make recommendations to the 10-councillor Executive Committee or to full Council. These committees are:
  • Financial Services
  • Economic and Social Development
  • Water and Waste Services
  • Planning, Environment and Housing
  • Transportation and traffic
  • Human Resources
  • Protection, Health and Trading

This interim structure of local government marks the first political and institutional move to formally creating a metropolitan government in the CMA.

 
Funding

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Agreement has been reached between the seven councils in the CMA on a financial framework to ensure a clear sustainable and integrated fiscal relationship. The CMC derives its income from a number of sources:
  • Levies from business (27% of total income)
  • Tariffs in respect of bulk services (34%)
  • Miscellaneous income (16%)
  • Contributions and subsidies (23%)
The CMC also derives additional income from levies (i.e. Regional Establishment Levy and a Regional Services Levy). These funds are used to cover the CMC’s functions, various projects associated with the Integrated Development Plan, infrastructural grants and the provision of capital and operational assistance to the metropolitan local councils.

 
Challenges to local governance

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Local government in the CMA has a wide range of urban management challenges. The ability of the CMC and MLCs to ensure good governance and urban sustainability is constrained by a number of factors including:
  • Major infrastructure and service backlogs in informal settlements and costly maintenance and operation costs for high quality facilities in affluent suburbs.
  • Pressure on existing resources such as land, water and energy due to the high rate of urbanization and population growth.
  • The magnitude and geographical concentration of poverty and inadequate levels of shelter and access to services.

 
Good local governance is also faced with organisational and capacity constraints such as:
  • Limited cooperation and coordination of local government activities within and between councils resulting in duplication and undermining of development and implementation of policies, strategies and plans.
  • Lack of information and communication within institutions.
  • Pressures on the tax base of local authorities brought about by problems such as non-payment for services and inadequate collection of service levies.
  • Limited local capacity brought about partially due to the restructuring of local government, a process begun following the introduction of the Local Government Transition Act in 1993. The CMA experienced major changes in the period leading up to the democratic local elections held in 1996. Among the more significant changes were the dramatic reduction in the number of Councils and local government administrations from 60 to 7 and 19 to 7 respectively and the redeployment of thousands of employees.
  • Weak and fragmented policies have been further undermined by uneven and ineffective enforcement of legislation.

 
Governance beyond 2000

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The Cape Metropolitan Council has adopted a vision that places the metropolitan area on a path to urban sustainability into the new millennia. This vision is contained in the Integrated Development Planning and Management Framework (CMC, 1999: 14), and reads as follows:

"In twenty years time …

  • The CMA will provide a high quality of life and excellent access to essential services, to housing and to economic, education and social opportunities for all its inhabitants.
  • Our metropolitan environment will be safe, clean and healthy and our unique natural heritage will be excellently preserved. We will be famous for our success in reducing crime and violence.
  • The CMA will have a thriving and sustainable economy with robust formal and informal sectors, which will be globally competitive in key sectors. It will be an international destination and Africa’s premiere tourist destination. The benefits of growth and development will be widely spread and unemployment and social and economic inequalities will have substantially decreased.
  • Our community life will be characterised by values of tolerance and mutual respect. There will be a strong sense of civil responsibility characterised by wide participation in community life and local governance, including payment for services. We will be governed in an open, transparent and efficient manner and a strong spirit of co-operation and partnership will prevail."

 

In order to achieve this vision, local government has defined five strategic themes that will direct the governance in the CMA. The agreed metropolitan strategic themes are:

  • Targeting poverty and homelessness
  • Strengthening our global economic position
  • Enhancing the environment
  • Building social harmony and civic responsibility
  • Developing local government

(CMC, 1998)

Achieving sustainability of local government in the CMA within the medium to long term depends on Integrated Development Planning that successfully consolidates and (re)directs capital flows in line with priority needs and long term goals contained in the metropolitan vision.

In terms of the South African Constitution and the Local Government Transition Act 209 of 1993, the present local government structures are purely interim. However, the current local government dispensation has created a solid foundation for the creation of a consolidated local government entity considered in the Local Government Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (No. 117 of 1998).

 

(Source: CMC, 1998a)

 

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