De Visser and Steytler criticise new criteria for metros

The Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs intends to introduce the Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill, 2016 in the National Assembly. Before introducing the bill, the ministry invited members of the public to submit written comments on this Amendment Bill, and Jaap de Visser and Nico Steytler, both professors at the Dullah Omar Institute submitted their comments.

According to the two professors, the Municipal Structures Amendment contains proposals to make it easier for the Municipal Demarcation Board to proclaim new metropolitan municipalities. In this submission to Parliament, Jaap de Visser and Nico Steytler, both professors at the Dullah Omar Institute, critique this new definition for undermining the categorisation of municipalities and damaging the creditworthiness of current metros. They suggest an alternative that leaves the definition of metros intact and adds a definition for "urban municipalities".

The Steytler and De Visser hope that Clause 2 of the Municipal Structures Amendment Bill, 2016 will be revisited and they welcome an opportunity to engage on ways to ensure it supports the implementation of the Integrated Urban Development Framework and other crucial strategies related to the future of our cities.

Submission

Paper to give background of the submission