The Legal Status and Autonomy ofLocal Government

Local Government Organization and Finance: South Africa 51

coherent support to local government,especially since 2005 through Project Consolidate.

The third phase ofreform started in 2000.The platform for this phase was a comprehensive process ofdemarcating municipal boundaries.The Demarcation Board was busy for more than two years,weighing economic, fiscal,and political considerations and evidence and consulting widely. Finally,it established six metropolitan councils,incorporated urban and rural areas in the same primary and district structures outside the six councils,and reduced the overall number ofmunicipalities from 843 to 283 (284 until February 28,2006).Demarcation was the starting point for another set ofreforms,including an elaborate process to define the powers and functions ofthe different categories ofmunicipalities and further evolution of the fiscal framework,as well as initiatives to deal with issues in sectors within the traditional domain oflocal government powers,such as electricity and water provision (Atkinson 2002;National Treasury 2003b).4

The new local governments are organized into three categories.Category A municipalities,ofwhich there are six,are single-tier metropolitan governments (metros) located in the largest cities.Outside those areas is a two-tier system.In the first tier are 232 category B primary municipalities, with elected councils and certain administrative,regulatory,and service delivery functions.The second interim tier of46 district municipalities or category C municipalities cuts across primary municipal boundaries.These municipalities are governed by district councils that are indirectly elected from the primary local governments.Their roles are mainly coordinating and facilitative;however,some have executing roles where primary local governments lack the required capacity.

The average population within a South African municipality is 149,654—significantly smaller than Indonesia’s average (617,070) but much larger than India’s (2,892) (Rural Development Unit 2004).There is, however,a wide spectrum.Metropolitan governments cover jurisdictions ranging from Johannesburg,with more than 2.75 million people,to smaller metros,such as Port Elizabeth,with about 1 million people.Populations under district councils vary from just under 60,000 to well in excess of1.6 million,whereas local councils could have populations ranging from more than 680,000 to fewer than 6,000 (http://www.demarcation.org.za).

The Legal Status and Autonomy ofLocal Government

This section discusses the current legal status oflocal government in South Africa.