The proposed amendment to section 139 (2) of the Constitution, tabled in Parliament in August, creates new grounds on which a province may intervene in a municipality, obliges a province to intervene in certain circumstances and waters down the supervision function of the National Council of Provinces. In short, it eases provincial intervention in local government.
The Portfolio Committee on Transport convened a public hearing on the implementation of the National Land Transport Transition Act (NLTTA) at Parliament on 4 September.
The Justice and Constitutional Development Portfolio Committee held public hearings on the Third Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2002, at Parliament on 5 and 6 December 2002.
Residents of Bon Vista Mansions v Southern Metropolitan Local Council
There is currently no legal provision that directly prohibits a local municipality's employee from sitting on the district council. However, there is a real possibility that if such a case would ever come to court, the court would that there is a conflict of interest.
Public Participation is a fundamental part of local government's planning in the new dispensation. Aside from Chapter 4 in the Systems Act, no clear guidelines are given on how to link decentralised institutions with citizens.
Every municipal council has the right to to determine its internal procedures. This right is protected by section 160 of the Constitution, which allows a municipality to decide how to structure its internal operations and what kind of mandate/area of responsibility it assigns to political structures, office-bearers and municipal manager.
Easing Interventions in Local Government: The Proposed Constitutional Amendment
