Institutional Tensions between Municipal Chairpersons and Executives: Speaking of Mayor Conflicts?

This researcher paper, co-authored by Prof Jaap de Visser, focuses on a particular aspect of municipal governance arrangements and practice, namely the office of the speaker and the implications of this office being introduced into municipal governance in South Africa in 2000.

The experience of the last seven years has shown that the relationship between the office of the speaker and the office of the mayor has the potential to be fraught with tension. For example, at SALGA’s Annual Conference in 2007, the lack of clarity between the roles of the two office-bearers was highlighted. An earlier study found the relationship between speakers and mayors to be poor: “Self-defeating patterns of behaviour characterise interaction between the executive mayor and the speaker. Both act in a way that is detrimental to themselves and the municipality and there is little understanding and concern about the consequences of the poor relationship between them and the negative impact this has on the municipality.” It is on this relationship that this paper focuses primarily.