Municipalities are constitutionally obligated to address poverty in their communities through the promotion of social and economic development and the provision of services in a sustainable manner.

The Bill of Rights provides that any person has the right of access to any information held by the state. This includes information held by a municipality. The Constitution further provides that national legislation must be enacted to give effect to this right. This prompted the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2002.

Key local government leaders from across the country gathered at SALGA's National General Council in November 2002 to consider critical issues currently facing the sector. The resolution that emerged will set the pace of local government transformation for many years and a brief synopsis of some of them follows.

Six informal beach traders made an urgent review application to the Cape High Court in December 2002 against the City of Cape Town after their applications for trading permits for 2002/03 were unsuccessful.

More than a thousands delegates comprising municipal political office bearers and officials, local government MEC's provincial local government heads of department, national politicians and officials and organised local government attended a two-day Municipal Viability indaba at the Sandton Convention Centre on 5 and 6 December 2002.

The mayoral committee is appointed at the discretion of the executive mayor. It therefore need not include other parties on a proportional basis.

On 3 June 2003, Minister Sydney Mufamadi published a notice for all nine provinces which revokes authorisation in terms of section 84 (3) of the Municipal Structures Act. These authorisations deal with four important district municipal functions, namely,the bulk supply of water, electricity and sewage purification works and municipal health services.

The Traditional Leadership and Governance White Paper was launched by the Department of Provincial and Local Government on 29 April 2002. Provision was made for a consultation process, which was originally envisaged to have been completed by 22 November 2002 but which was extended to 15 January 2003.

On 4 October the Constitutional Court ended a period of political instability that started just less than a year ago with the break up of the Democratic Alliance (DA). The eagerly awaited judgment of the Court declared as unconstitutional the Acts that relate to crossing the floor at local government level, namely the Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Act 20 of 2002 and the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Amendment Act 18 of 2002.

Conflict is one of the realities of political and social life. All governments face similar challenges as they cope with the pressures of modern social and economic life. How they respond to those challenges is an important ingredient in the well-being of their citizens, Local Government will also have its share of disputes among municipalities, but also among with the other spheres of government.

The Portfolio Committee on Provincial and Local Government passed this Bill on 22 October 2002 and the National Assembly passed two days later. The Bill at the time of writing is scheduled to be passed by the National Council of Provinces on 7 November. It should be signed into law by the middle of November.

Gerber and others v MEC of the Gauteng Province and Eastern Gauteng Services Council (case no, 303/2001)

The North West Provincial Intergovernmental Forum was officially launched in July 1997.

All municipalities must develop a system of delegation in terms of the Municipal Systems Act. A delegation is when a person or structure delegates functions that originally vested in it to another person or structure to do.

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.

When the new Premier of the Western Cape took office in January 2002, he vowed to devolve as many provincial functions as possible onto local authorities which have the capacity to perform them. Assignment is the most important way of bringing functions down to local government.

The President has signed a set of Bills into law that allow for crossing the floor, This article summarises the Bills insofar as they deal with councillors. The Bills amend parts of the of the Constitution and the Municipal Structures Act

Important recent developments in the electricity distribution industry (EDI) could have a significant impact on municipalities. A recent court challenge raises the crucial issue of the right of municipalities to supply and distribute electricity.

This is an abbreviated version of SALGA's submission to the joint session of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs and the Select Committee on Social Servies dealing with the Immigration Bill.

Marais v Democratic Alliance 2002 (2) BCLR 171 (C)

The need for an intergovernmental structure was identified in order to streamline the transformation process in the Western Cape.