This section situates local government within the South African system of government. It outlines the roles and responsibilities of national and provincial government with respect to local government. It describes some current national policies and programmes which have a direct impact on local government, and suggests ways in which national and provincial government can work with local government to enhance the effectiveness of all spheres of government. It concludes with a discussion of horizontal cooperation between municipalities.

1. The Framework of Intergovernmental Relations
2. Working With Local Governmental
3. Horizontal Cooperation Between Municipalities
4. Concluding Comment
   
   

The new Constitution states that government in South Africa is constituted as national, provincial and local spheres of government. These three spheres are distinctive, interdependent and interrelated. Local government is a sphere of government in its own right, and is no longer a function of national or provincial government. It is an integral component of the democratic state.

All spheres are government are obliged to observe the principles of cooperative government put forward in the Constitution. Cooperative government assumes the integrity of each sphere of government. But it also recognises the complex nature of government in modern society. No country today can effectively meet its challenges unless the components of government function as a cohesive whole. This involves:

• Collectively harnessing all public resources behind common goals and within a framework of mutual support.
• Developing a cohesive, multi-sectoral perspective on the interests of the country as a whole, and respecting the discipline of national goals, policies and operating principles.
• Coordinating their activities to avoid wasteful competition and costly duplication
• Utilising human resources effectively.
• Settling disputes constructively without resorting to costly and time-consuming litigation.
• Rationally and clearly dividing between them the roles and responsibilities of government, so as to minimise confusion and maximise effectiveness.

1.2. Intergovernmental relations

Intergovernmental relations are the set of multiple formal and informal processes, channels, structures and institutional arrangements for bilateral and multilateral interaction within and between spheres of government. In South Africa a system of intergovernmental relations is emerging to give expression to the concept of cooperative government contained in the Constitution.

A system of intergovernmental relations has the following strategic purposes:

• To promote and facilitate cooperative decision-making.
• To coordinate and align priorities, budgets, policies and activities across interrelated functions and sectors.
• To ensure a smooth flow of information within government, and between government and communities, with a view to enhancing the implementation of policy and programmes.
• The prevention and resolution of conflicts and disputes.

To date, the development of a framework for intergovernmental relations has focused on the relationship between national and provincial government. The role of local government is being defined as it develops in practice over time. The establishment and recognition of organised local government structures is an important step in ensuring local government representation in intergovernmental processes and forums. In 1998 local government representatives nominated by the South African Local Government Association (Salga) have taken their place in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). In the same spirit, we also need to work towards ensuring that provincial local government associations are accommodated within the legislative processes of provincial governments.

Section 41(2) of the Constitution requires the development of an Act to establish or provide for structures and institutions to promote intergovernmental relations. The Department of Constitutional Development is currently drafting a discussion document to open debate on the question of intergovernmental relations, with a view to initiating discussions around the content of future legislation. The roles and responsibilities of each sphere within a system of intergovernmental relations will become clearer as this process unfolds. However, a sketch of the basic roles and responsibilities of national and provincial government with respect to local government is outlined below.

1.3. Roles and responsibilities of national and provincial government

The Constitution defines the roles and responsibilities of national and provincial government with respect to local government. It obliges all spheres of government to cooperate with one another in mutual trust and good faith through fostering friendly relations; assisting and supporting one another; informing one another of, and consulting one another on, matters of common interest; and coordinating their actions and legislation with one another. The specific roles of national and provincial government with respect to local government need to be viewed within this context.

1.3.1. National government

National government has a number of roles and responsibilities with respect to local government, including:

• A strategic role: National government is responsible for setting the overall strategic framework for the economic and social development of the nation, and for all spheres of government. It should ensure that local government operates within an enabling framework* and is structured and capacitated in a way that best enables it to promote the development of citizens, local communities, and the nation.
• Coordinating the transition: Local government is still in the process of transition envisaged by the Local Government Transition Act. National government, in partnership with other spheres of government, is responsible for the coordination, management and oversight of this transition process. It is also responsible for taking local government into the final phase envisaged by the Local Government Transition Act through legislating for a new local government system. This White Paper is part of that process.
• Providing a legislative framework for local government: National government must provide an overall legislative framework for local government within the general legal framework set out in the Constitution. This includes:
  • Establishing criteria for the demarcation of municipal boundaries, the definition of categories of municipalities and types within categories.
  • Making provision for an appropriate division of powers and functions between category (C) and category (B) municipalities.
  • Municipal electoral systems and administrative matters.
  • Ensuring that provincial legislation with respect to local government is formulated within a national legislative framework.
  • Providing a framework for intergovernmental relations, including the structures, procedures and mechanisms to promote and facilitate positive intergovernmental relations and the resolution of intergovernmental disputes within and between the spheres of government.
• Providing a framework for municipal capacity-building and supporting municipalities: Section 154(1) of the Constitution tasks both national and provincial government with supporting and strengthening the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs, exercise their powers and perform their functions. National government must establish an overall framework for municipal capacity-building and support.
• Support for key institutions: National government is committed to supporting and strengthening organised local government* to enable it to perform its constitutional role effectively. In addition, national government will support other institutions which are crucial to the transformation and continued viability of local government, such as the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority and the Local Government Bargaining Council.
• Local government finances: Fiscal* provisions for local government, including managing the system of intergovernmental fiscal relations, situating local government's fiscal powers within the national tax structure, and passing legislation to determine local government's "equitable share" of revenue raised nationally and on a range of other financially related topics such as municipal budgetary forms and processes.
• Monitoring and oversight: To ensure the necessary levels of compatibility, uniformity and consistency, national government needs to develop an overall framework for a system of monitoring and oversight within which other organs of state, particularly provincial governments, will perform these functions.

A number of institutions require accurate and relevant information to enable the monitoring and oversight of local government. For example, such information is required to enable the oversight of municipalities by the National Assembly (required by Section 55(2)(b)(ii) of the Constitution); the monitoring of municipalities by provincial governments (required by Section 155(6)(a) of the Constitution); and to enable the Human Rights Commission to assess the measures municipalities have taken towards the realisation of specific rights. National departments with decentralised policy and implementation programmes also require reliable information from local government with respect to these programmes.

National government should provide a coherent framework to ensure that the reporting requirements placed on municipalities are reasonable, and should also ensure the rationalisation and standardisation of the current multiplicity of local government surveys into a coherent annualised national data collection system, which includes an annual survey of performance in terms of agreed key performance indicators, and a quarterly survey of indicators as required for Project Viability, by the SA Reserve Bank, and so forth.

• Intervention: Although provincial government is primarily responsible for intervention, national government may also need to intervene together with provincial government or in instances where a provincial government fails to intervene, or where national fiscal resources are implicated, or where such intervention is required to maintain economic unity, essential national standards and national security, or to prevent unreasonable actions that are prejudicial to a province or the country as a whole.

1.3.2. Provincial government

There are very different conditions and challenges for the establishment of the new local government system, both between and within provinces. Some of the key differences arise from the varying capacity and revenue of existing municipalities, and the degree of unmet needs within the municipal area. Provincial governments will need to tailor their approaches to supporting local government according to the specific conditions which prevail in each area.

Provincial government's roles include:

• A strategic role with respect to developing a vision and framework for integrated economic, social and community development in the province through the provincial growth and development strategy.
• A development role: Provincial government should ensure that municipal integrated development plans combine to form a viable development framework across the province, and are vertically integrated with the provincial growth and development strategy. Provincial government is also responsible for processing grants to municipalities for bulk infrastructure, housing, public works and so forth. Provincial government should ensure that municipal planning and budgeting processes give priority to the basic needs of the community and promote the social and economic development of the community as required by Section 153 of the Constitution.
• An intergovernmental role: Provincial government has an intergovernmental role to play with respect to local government. It should establish forums and processes for the purpose of including local government in decision-making processes which affect it. Provincial government can also promote horizontal cooperation and coordination between municipalities in the province.
• Regulatory role: Section 155(7) of the Constitution gives national and provincial government the legislative and executive authority to see to the effective performance by municipalities of their functions in respect of matters listed in Schedules 4 and 5, by regulating the exercise by municipalities of their executive authority with respect to the local government matters listed in Parts B of Schedules 4 and 5, and any other matter assigned to local government by legislation.

The old provincial ordinances which regulated the functioning of local government under apartheid are still in force. In many instances these ordinances contradict the new Constitution. As part of the transformation process provincial governments need to reformulate their regulations with respect to local government to ensure that they are both constitutional, and support the new vision of developmental local government. The process of reviewing and repealing provincial ordinances will be facilitated by a nation-wide review across all provinces, and a common approach to the repeal of ordinances.

Where municipalities fail to fulfil their constitutional functions, and the regulation of their executive powers does not succeed in ensuring that they perform their functions effectively, intervention may be required.

• An institutional development and capacity-building role: Provincial government establishes municipalities, and is tasked by Section 155 (6) of the Constitution with promoting the development of local government capacity to enable municipalities to perform their functions and manage their own affairs. These responsibilities give provincial government an important role in the institutional development of municipalities, which will be pivotal to ensuring the success of the new local government system during the coming years.

Training and capacity-building are an integral part of institutional development. Provincial government is not solely responsible for local government training and capacity building - individual municipal Councils, as employers, have a responsibility for the development of their staff; local government training structures (described in Section F: Administrative Systems) have certain responsibilities for training; and Salga has a key role with respect to councillor training. However, provincial government has a critical coordinating and strategic function, both with respect to developing a framework for municipal capacity-building in the province, and ensuring that capacity-building takes place. The training system proposed in this White Paper provides for provincial training structures. Provincial governments' input at this level will ensure that training strategies take account of provincial diversity, and are prioritised to meet the needs of municipalities in the province.

In addition to this coordinating function, provincial governments can build municipal capacity in a number of ways, such as facilitating or funding training programmes, providing technical assistance and mentorship, arranging exchange programmes, providing assistance with municipal integrated development plans, facilitating shared learning between municipalities, and even the secondment of staff where appropriate.

All training and capacity-building initiatives should be linked to the national legislative and policy framework for skills development put forward by the Department of Labour.

• A fiscal role: Provincial governments already play a role in monitoring the financial status of municipalities through the provincial task teams of Project Viability. This monitoring role may be extended.

Provinces have a critical role in building the financial management capacity of municipalities and intervening when necessary to ensure local financial viability.

Provincial government's ability to effectively monitor local government can be enhanced through tabling the Auditor-General's reports on each municipality, together with the municipality's comments thereon, at the provincial public accounts committee. Provincial Members of the Executive Council (MECs) for Finance are also represented on the Budget Forum and hence play a key role in determining budget allocations for local government.

• A monitoring role: Provincial government has a key role in monitoring local government in order to ensure that high standards of public service and good government are maintained. This function must be conducted in ways which empower local government, and do not impede its functions.

Provincial monitoring and oversight should be directed at local government's execution of functions allocated in Schedules 4 and 5 of the Constitution, and the execution of assigned powers. Provincial government may also monitor municipalities with respect to the objectives of local government as given in Section 152 of the Constitution.

Provincial government's monitoring role must be supported by an information system which enables the provincial government to determine where municipal capacity needs to be built and where support is required, and to ascertain whether and which kind of regulation or intervention is necessary.

• An intervention role: Powers of intervention by provincial government in the affairs of local government provide a safeguard to:
  • Protect and promote minimum standards of local government delivery and democracy and ensure that local government fulfils its constitutional mandate.
  • Restore a municipality to financial health or to ensure financial sustainability.
  • Promote accountability and public faith in local government institutions.
  • Prevent corruption and maladministration.

At present powers of intervention are governed by Section 10G(2) of the Local Government Transition Act. The provisions of this Act will remain in force until 1999, after which the provisions of Section 139 of the Constitution - and any additional policy, procedures or legislation developed in terms of this section - will regulate the process of intervention.

The Local Government Transition Act gives the provincial MEC authority to take wide-ranging steps to restore the finances of municipalities which are in financial difficulty to a state of health.

In terms of Section 139 of the Constitution, provincial government has the power to intervene when a municipality cannot or does not fulfil an executive obligation in terms of legislation. Provincial government may take any appropriate steps to ensure that the municipality fulfils its obligation, including:

• Issuing a directive to the municipal Council, describing the extent of its failure to fulfil its obligations and stating any steps required to meet its obligations.
• Assuming responsibility for the relevant obligation of that municipality to the extent required to maintain essential national standards or meet established minimum standards for the rendering of a service; to prevent that municipal Council from taking unreasonable action that is prejudicial to the interests of another municipality or to the province as a whole; and to maintain economic unity.

Where a provincial government assumes responsibility for a municipal function in terms of Section 139 (1) (b) of the Constitution:

• The intervention must end unless approved by the MEC responsible for local government affairs within 14 days.
• Notice of the intervention must be tabled in the provincial legislature and in the NCOP within 14 days of their respective first sittings after the intervention began.
• The intervention must end unless it is approved by the NCOP within 30 days of its first sitting after the intervention began.
• The NCOP must review the intervention regularly, and make appropriate recommendations to the relevant provincial executive.

The fair and even exercise of intervention powers requires a level of uniformity across the country. Predictability with respect to the exercise of intervention powers is also an important requirement for stabilising the relationship between municipalities and financial markets. For these reasons national guidelines on the process of intervention will be developed. In addition, a detailed legal framework which governs events when municipalities encounter significant financial difficulties needs to be put into place. This framework needs to cover matters such as debt default provisions, the bankruptcy process and measures which need to be taken in terms of such a process.

National guidelines will be based on the following principles:

• Firstly, steps should be taken to remove the need for intervention. This includes ensuring that all municipalities have access to adequate training, capacity-building, funding and support systems to enable them to perform their functions and manage their administrations properly. Good monitoring and information systems are required to indicate potential problems before they become crises, so that municipalities are able to take their own corrective measures where problems arise.
• Secondly, clear responsibility and financial liability for mismanagement, maladministration or fraud must be established, with rapid procedures for prosecuting offenders at both the political and administrative level.
• Thirdly, national and provincial government should exercise the power given to them in terms of Section 155(7) of the Constitution, to regulate the executive authority of municipalities to ensure that municipalities perform their functions effectively. It is anticipated that, in most instances, the regulation of municipal executive authority will be sufficient to ensure that municipal functions are effectively performed, and intervention in terms of Section 139 of the Constitution will be a rare occurrence.
• Where intervention is required, the level of intervention needs to be appropriate to the context, ranging from support and advice through issuing directives for specific actions, to the assumption of executive authority for a municipal function by another sphere of government.
• The ultimate sanction against a municipal Council for persistent non-performance is the loss of executive power. This should occur only where all other mechanisms to improve the situation have failed and in a way which will lead to the re-establishment of the municipal Council's executive power as soon as possible.

Powers of intervention should be seen a measure of last resort, where the problem cannot be resolved through ordinary intergovernmental processes. There is broad agreement that both national and provincial government are committed to ensuring the stabilisation of the local government environment to such an extent that interventions are exceptional and not regular occurrences.

The above list of roles and responsibilities indicates that national and provincial government are constitutionally required to take an active interest in ensuring the development of strong local government, capable of fulfilling its constitutional mandate.

In return, municipalities are required to work with provincial and national government in their respective areas of jurisdiction, and enhance the effectiveness of national and provincial programmes. Local government should maintain open, cooperative and constructive relations with both provincial and national government, seeing its operation as a component of the broader state structure.

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2. WORKING WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Local government does not determine the sustainability of human settlements alone. Other spheres of government, either by independently conducting their own programmes in the same area as a municipality, or by regulating the operation of municipalities in line with their own sectoral objectives, also affect the overall shape of settlements and the livelihoods of people who live there.

The following is a summary of some national departments' programmes and policies as they relate to local government. The summary gives an indication that the national policy environment within which municipalities operate is rapidly becoming more complex. Local government is increasingly being seen as a point of integration and coordination for the programmes of other spheres of government.

Department of Health

The Department of Health has proposed decentralising significant functions to local government, and will potentially designate municipalities as district health authorities where they have the capacity to perform this function.

The department perceives a clear need to integrate services currently rendered by multiple authorities (e.g., where provincial and local governments operate separate clinics close to each other in the same area), and to coordinate those vertically split services which impact upon health quality (water supply, welfare, transport access, etc.). It sees a district health system which reintegrates and coordinates services at the local government level as the best way to achieve this.

District health authorities will be established across the country with boundaries coterminous with (aligned with) municipal boundaries where possible. In rural areas with smaller, more widely dispersed populations, a number of municipalities may together comprise a district health authority. In denser metropolitan areas, each metropolitan government may incorporate a number of district health authorities.

The proposed district health system will significantly improve health planning and bring real cost savings and improvements in service delivery. But it has major implications for local government which need to be considered. These include:

• Linking 'municipal health services' (an original power of local government in terms of the Constitution) to primary health care, which may have financial implications for local government.
• The alignment of boundaries to enable the effective delivery of municipal and district health authority services.
• The relationship between the employment conditions of district health authority staff and those of local government.

Department of Transport

The Department of Transport has proposed a Bill which envisages the designation of municipalities and/or combinations of municipalities as transport authorities. Transport authorities will have responsibilities for, among other things:

• The development of transport policies and plans based on national and provincial guidelines and visions.
• The implementation of plans and the operation, maintenance and management of transport programmes and systems established under these policies and plans, including public transport.
• The administration of land transport authority funds.
• The development, implementation and monitoring of environmental strategies with respect to land transport.
• The regulation and enforcement of transport matters.
• The promotion of security in public transport.

The Bill establishes national and provincial transport funds, as well as specific 'land transport funds' for each transport authority. Land transport funds will receive money from provincial and national budgets as well as grants from member municipalities, money allocated for the subsidisation of public transport, levies on transport infrastructure users approved by provincial MECs, loans approved by provincial legislatures, and from the exploitation of transport authority assets (bus fares, etc.).

The Bill makes allowances for municipalities to set up transport authorities which straddle provincial boundaries if this enables more effective planning and service provision.

The department also proposes the very gradual phasing out of transport subsidies for municipal public transport. In some areas of the country, notably areas of displaced urbanisation, this will have a great impact on settlement patterns and people's work opportunities.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)

The role of local government in boosting local economies, enhancing local competitiveness and promoting small scale enterprise will be enhanced by initiatives under the Department of Trade and Industry.

Local government has been actively drawn into small, medium and micro-sized enterprise (SMME) initiatives, via local service centres, and collaboration with Ntsika* and Khula* is encouraged. In addition, assistance with local economic development pilot projects is available both from the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Constitutional Development.

The spatial development initiatives* managed by the Department of Trade and Industry offer major opportunities for municipalities to get involved in regional development programmes, and collaborate with other spheres of government and stakeholders to attract investment and boost local job creation. Due to the potential long term impact if these initiatives on local development, municipalities need to become more involved in the planning and implementation of spatial development initiatives initiatives.

Department of Arts and Culture

The Constitution lists culture as a concurrent competence. This means that provincial and local government have some responsibility in promoting and developing arts and culture in their areas. Internationally, municipalities are the biggest funders of arts and culture, and many cities have made the transition from industrial to post-industrial global centres through promoting the development of arts and culture locally.

Traditionally in South Africa, community arts centres and libraries are the responsibility of local government. As more of these centres and libraries are built, a legal framework will have to be developed to manage them.

Some other programmes relevant to municipalities are the cultural industries growth strategy, which aims to identify and maximise the economic potential of the cultural industries, and the Legacy Project, which is aimed at making the heritage sector (museums, historic monuments, etc.) more representative of our country's diversity.

Department of Safety and Security

The Department of Safety and Security's national crime prevention strategy has four pillars, namely:

• Re-engineering the criminal justice system.
• Environmental design to promote safety and security.
• Promoting public values and education.
• Transnational crime.

Local government will be expected to play a key role in the second and third of these pillars: strategising and implementing social crime prevention measures to promote healthy, prosperous and well informed communities in which criminal activity has little opportunity to flourish.

New legislation will enable municipalities to establish municipal police forces. Municipalities will be able to get support through training and access to police facilities.

The department also envisages an overhaul of the present system of community policing forums and their replacement with a system based on municipal public safety committees.

Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs

The Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs is overseeing a process of far reaching changes in the electricity industry. At present Eskom and municipalities both reticulate electricity to different parts of the country and sometimes different parts of the same municipality. Many municipalities are loosing their licences to reticulate electricity because of their inability to pay their bulk electricity accounts. It is proposed that a system of regional electricity distributors be established which will combine Eskom and municipality electricity reticulation into autonomous structures.

The proposal will impact significantly on municipalities' revenues and cash flows. In some municipalities profits on electricity supply are used to cross-subsidise otherwise non-viable services within municipal accounts, but many municipalities operate their electricity undertaking at a loss. Municipalities will be allowed to levy a tax on the sale of electricity which should in aggregate improve their income from electricity. However, the removal of electricity will affect the municipal asset base, and thereby impact on credit ratings and borrowing ability.

Many of the details related to establishing the regional electricity distributors, such as the exact levy municipalities may charge and the role of municipal representatives on regional electricity distributor governance structures, still have to be finalised. Local government will be an active participant in this discussion, and, via Salga or other mechanisms, must ensure that its interests are represented.

Department of Land Affairs

The Department of Land Affairs administers the Development Facilitation Act, which imposes a set of planning requirements on municipalities. The Local Government Transition Act (Second Amendment Act) also imposes certain planning requirements on local government. The Department of Constitutional Development and the Department of Land Affairs are working closely through the Forum for Effective Planning and Development to ensure that these requirements, as well as the sectoral plans which other national departments require from local government, are coordinated and streamlined into a single generic planning process - the integrated development planning process (see Section B, 2.2 and 3.1 for more on integrated development plans).

Local government also needs to work closely with the Department of Land Affairs to ensure that land reform and restitution processes are incorporated in municipal integrated development plans, and that the benefits of tenure reform are consolidated within municipal areas.

Department of Public Works

The Department of Public Works has a number of programmes which impact upon local economic development. These include a labour-intensity programme; a procurement reform programme within national and provincial government; and a programme for support to emerging contractors.

The department is investigating the possibility of extending the procurement reform programme to local government, and of working closely with municipalities around the other programmes.

Department of Housing

In terms of the new Housing Bill, municipalities are required to ensure that, within the frameworks of national and provincial legislation and policy, all inhabitants in their areas have access to adequate housing. This is to be achieved through the setting of housing delivery goals, the coordination of housing development and the identification and development of appropriate land. It also requires coordination of the planning and provision of bulk and basic services with the planning and implementation of new housing projects.

The Bill allows for municipalities to participate directly in the national housing programme by either acting as a developer or an administrator of a national programme in which it contracts developers. If a municipality is accredited for the purposes of administering a national housing programme, it may receive allocations from the provincial housing development fund if the MEC deems this appropriate.

At present no person without formal legal title to land is able to qualify for a subsidy under the national housing programme. This has excluded people living on communal land in rural areas from accessing the subsidy. The Department of Housing is exploring a new instrument with the Department of Land Affairs which may allow people in rural areas to use existing access to a portion of land as a qualified title for the purposes of receiving a subsidy.

Department of Water Affairs and Forestry

In recent years the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has pursued a multibillion rand programme of supplying water directly to communities. The programme is beginning to have a significant and positive impact on the quality of life of rural people. However, largely due to the transitional process in local government, this programme has often bypassed municipalities in the past. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has committed itself to a systematic institution-building programme at the local government level to ensure local government involvement in the programme.

The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has developed a White Paper on Water Supply and Sanitation, which will impact on municipalities with respect to the delivery of these services. The recently passed Water Services Act (No. 108 of 1997) requires that all municipalities draw up water services management and water resources development plans, specifying how the municipality plans to use and preserve water as a national resource.

The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry may also provide for the specific regulation of water tariffs for bulk purchases by, and reticulation within, municipalities. These regulations could have a significant impact on the way municipalities conceive the long-term development of their areas.

Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

In order to provide for thorough and uniform control of the environmental impact of development projects, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism published a provisional list of activities and draft regulations for environmental impact assessments. This is a significant step in formalising environmental impact assessment in South Africa, and facilitating the integration of environmental impact management with development processes. This will lead to more responsible and environmentally sensitive development. Provision has been made in the regulations for the relevant provincial authorities to identify municipalities that could be designated by the Minister to act as competent authorities.

Tourism is a concurrent competence, and requires good coordination and mutual support between spheres of government, particularly in view of the diverse nature of tourism. The White Paper on Tourism emphasises the important role of municipalities in developing tourism, and the extraordinary contribution this sector can make to socio-economic upliftment.

Disaster management*

Effective disaster management requires that the resources and capacities of all spheres of government are coordinated to prevent disasters where possible, and deal with them effectively where they occur. Each municipality should proactively plan for the prevention and management of disasters. Municipalities should, through their planning and implementation processes, seek to minimise the vulnerability of communities and protect people who are at risk. The direct involvement of communities in planning and implementation is the most effective way to identify the possible hazards and risks faced by communities, and build a culture of risk reduction. Disaster prevention and preparedness should be an integral part of development policy.

The Department of Defence assists in the crime prevention function of disaster management and has various disaster management and civil aid capabilities. Local government will need to work together with the Department of Defence during times of crisis when this assistance is required.

2.2. Cooperative government in practice

It is clear that national government is increasingly looking to local government as a logical point of coordination and necessary vehicle for the implementation of policies and programmes. Provincial governments are also decentralising certain functions to local government. At the same time, local government is constitutionally obliged to participate in national and provincial development programmes.

It is also clear that the policies and programmes of other spheres have wide-reaching implications for local government, and can potentially have a positive impact on municipal capacity and a strong synergy with municipal programmes. National and provincial government can build local government capacity through the way they execute their own programmes, and enhance the effectiveness of both. Some of the ways in which this can happen are:

• Working with local government directly: If national and provincial departments commit themselves to working through local government directly, substantial resources could be made available to municipalities to conduct their constitutionally assigned powers and functions. Depending on the nature of the funding, it may contribute significantly to local government institutional development, as well as general development and delivery programmes.

Municipalities often find themselves working in parallel with a range of local offices of government departments. The activities of these parallel structures are sometimes difficult to incorporate into integrated development plans, and may also undermine the authority of local government to govern within its area of jurisdiction. If local government is to govern effectively and play an integrating, coordinating role at the local level, some of the activities of these structures may need to be brought under local government authority.

• Integrating programmes into municipal integrated development plans: Municipalities are expected to develop local infrastructure investment plans on the basis of integrated development plans. However, national and provincial departments have major infrastructure programmes of their own, which are not always executed with the active and informed participation of municipalities. Some of these national and provincial investments may impose unforeseen future costs on municipalities. Integrated planning is needed to coordinate national, provincial and local investments in municipal areas of jurisdiction, to ensure that scarce resources are utilised for maximum impact.
• Coordinated decentralisation and the assignment of powers: National and provincial government are constitutionally permitted to devolve powers and functions to local government. While decentralisation is often desirable to improve the effectiveness of government as a whole, it is not without problems. The devolution of a new function to local government may occur without it being accompanied by the financial and administrative capacity required to sustain it - what is termed an unfunded mandate. Unfunded mandates strain local government's limited resources and, ultimately, result in a lack of delivery.

In order to ensure that the combination of decentralisation initiatives by different departments does not overwhelm local government, and that unfunded mandates are avoided, it is proposed that all legislation dealing with the decentralisation or assignment of powers to local government is referred to the local government MinMec for discussion and comment. In addition, provincial government should monitor the extent to which coordination of governmental activities within a municipal area is taking place through the relevant municipality, and report to MinMec in this regard.

The delegation of functions from a national level to local government should be the result of a cabinet decision, and should follow consultation with both provincial and local government. Similarly, delegations from provincial government to local government should be the result of a provincial Executive Council decision, and should follow consultations with local government in the province. This approach will facilitate integrated decision-making by ensuring that decentralisation initiatives by different line function departments are considered in relation to one another, and their combined impact on local government.

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3. HORIZONTAL COOPERATION BETWEEN MUNICIPALITIES

Constructive and mutually beneficial relations between the three spheres of government are vital to the integrity and effectiveness of local government. However, horizontal cooperation between municipalities, whether formal or informal, is equally important.

3.1. Organised local government

The Constitution allows for municipalities to organise forms of municipal association. A national organisation, Salga, and nine provincial associations have been established.

For historical reasons the voice of local government has been weak in the development of national and provincial policies, even where these affect local government directly. Salga's key role is the effective representation of local government in the legislative processes of all spheres of government, and in intergovernmental executive processes. Salga represents local government interests in forums such as the National Council of Provinces, the Financial and Fiscal Commission, the new Budget Forum dealing with intergovernmental transfers, MinMec, and in the drafting of legislation that affects the status, institutions, powers and functions of municipalities. In order to fulfil this representative role effectively, Salga must develop its own policy formulation and advocacy capacity, as well as develop strong internal mandating and consultative processes.

Organised local government in South Africa is also an employers' organisation, and constitutes the employer component of the South African Local Government Bargaining Council. Labour relations is often a neglected area, and the importance of labour matters and their impact on the daily operations of local government is sometimes not fully recognised.

Salga has a key role to play, not only as an employer in the South African Local Government Bargaining Council, but also in building capacity in the area of labour relations among its membership, and maintaining open and constructive relationships with organised labour. The successful transformation of local government requires that the relations between employer bodies and municipal trade unions are reconstructed around a common commitment to a developmental role for local government. The negotiation of this partnership will require vision and leadership, as well as considerable expertise in labour relations, bargaining, conflict resolution and human resource management and development. The Department of Labour can play a role in supporting Salga and developing its capacity as an employer organisation.

Salga also has potential to make a strong contribution to the development of municipalities throughout the country, through, for example:

• The provision of specialised services to supplement and strengthen the capacity of municipalities.
• Research and information dissemination.
• Facilitating shared learning between municipalities.
• Human resource development.
• Councillor training.

Organised local government is primarily funded by and dependent on membership fees payable by municipalities. This keeps local government associations accountable to the municipalities that constitute it. However, the functions performed by organised local government require wide-ranging, high-level and specialised human resources. For organised local government to be effective, additional sources of funding will need to be accessed. National and provincial government are committed to assisting organised local government, and have made provision for funding organised local government on a rand-for-rand basis out of the equitable share of national revenue to which local government is entitled.

3.2. Informal and international relationships between municipalities

Municipalities need not relate to each other through formal associations only. Inter-municipal cooperation may take many varied forms, including: exchange of learning experiences; sharing of staff, technology and equipment; joint investment projects; and collective purchasing.

Municipalities can also engage with municipalities in other countries, through a range of mechanisms from informal linkages to formal twinning arrangements and membership of international municipal institutions. Due to South Africa's historical isolation, very little attention was given to municipal international relations in the past. A process is currently underway to discuss areas where coordination may be required, such as visits to foreign countries initiated by municipalities or foreign governments; donor support to municipalities in South Africa; and the conclusion of agreements or contracts with foreign entities in cases where such agreements can create rights and/or obligations for the municipality, or impact on the country's foreign policy.

International linkages may provide numerous benefits to South African municipalities, including facilitating the sharing of international expertise and best practice experience. The Department of Constitutional Development, in consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Salga, will develop and publish a policy on municipal international relations in 1998.

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4. CONCLUDING COMMENT

Strong and capacitated local government can play a critical role in enhancing the success of national and provincial policies and programmes, and building sustainable human settlements for the nation. In a spirit of cooperative governance, national and provincial government should seek to support and enhance the developmental role of local government.

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  Contents | General | Section A | Section B | Section C | Section D | Section E | Section F | Section G | Section H | Annexure A | Annexure B | Annexure C | Annexure D | Glossary | Obituary