Now showing items 1-20 of 47

    • Adding injury to insult: Intrusive laws on top of a weak system 

      Ntliziywana, Phindile (Constitutional Court Review, 2016)
      Local governments often encounter difficulties when state functions and powers are devolved to them. Capacity at local level often becomes the Achilles heel of devolution. This is the case in South Africa. The South African ...
    • ANC proposals on local government 

      de Visser, Jaap; Chigwata, Tinashe (Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape, 2012)
      In the run up to the ANC Policy Conference in Mangaung, the party's Legislature and Governance Working Group has produced a policy discussion document that pays considerable attention to provincial and local government.
    • Book Review: Improving local government 

      de Visser, Jaap (Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance, 2009)
      Academic literature that engages in a comparison of local government systems, policies and practices and their impact on democracy and development is hard to come by. Yet, these comparisons are critical as they shed light ...
    • Career patterns of local politicians: The case of metropolitan mayors 

      de Visser, Jaap (Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape, 2006)
      Local government is emerging as a strong third sphere of government. Within local government, metropolitan cities are coming out as powerful institutions. Meanwhile, the discussion on the role of provincial governments is ...
    • Case review - fundamental constitutional value of accountability requires municipal officials to obey court orders : feature 

      Mirugi-Mukundi, Gladys (ESR Review : Economic and Social Rights in South Africa, 2015)
      This is a summary of a recent Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) decision that elaborated on the fundamental Constitutional value of accountability of public officials.
    • Chewing more than one can swallow: the creation of new districts in Uganda 

      Singiza, Douglas Karekona; de Visser, Jaap (University of the Western Cape, 2011)
      This article analyses the process of creating districts. It briefly discusses the local government system in Uganda and introduces the phenomenon of the increase in the number of districts. It continues with an analysis ...
    • Community safety, offender re-entry and local government 

      Muntingh, Lukas; Naude, Johan (Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape, 2012)
      This paper examines the issue of “Community safety, offender re-entry and local government” in South Africa. The impact of the release of large numbers of prisoners back into society on a monthly basis poses particular ...
    • Confronting the state of local government: the 2013 Constitutional Court decisions 

      de Visser, Jaap; Steytler, Nico (Juta, 2016)
      In September 2014 the then Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Pravin Gordhan, divided municipalities into three groups: a third of the municipalities was carrying out their tasks adequately, a third ...
    • Defining local government powers and functions 

      Steytler, Nico; Fessha, Yonatan Tesfaye (Sabinet, 2007)
      The functional areas of provincial and local government competency are listed in Schedules 4 and 5 of the Constitution, with those appearing in part A of each schedule confined to provincial government and those in part B ...
    • Demarcating provincial and local powers regarding liquor retail 

      de Visser, Jaap (Unisa Press, 2004)
      Local government’s newly acquired status as a fully-fledged sphere of government with constitutionally protected powers is slowly gaining momentum. Now that the dust is slowly settling around the demarcation and ...
    • Devolution by court injunction: The case of land use planning and management in South Africa 

      de Visser, Jaap (Uganda Management Institute, 2016)
      In South Africa, the legal and policy framework for land use planning and control underwent a significant transformation in which power over land use planning and control was shifted from provinces to local governments. ...
    • District municipalities : giving effect to shared authority in local government 

      Steytler, Nico (Law, Democracy & Development, 2003-01)
      A new feature of local government outside metropolitan areas is the establishment of 47 district municipalities in December 2000. They share legislative and administrative powers with local municipalities in their area. ...
    • District-local municipal relations: The challenges to cooperative government 

      Steytler, Nico; Jordan, Janis (Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape, 2005)
      Outside of metropolitan areas, local government is shared by district and local municipalities; the 47 district municipalities and 231 local municipalities share legislative and administrative powers over the same geographical ...
    • District-local municipal relations: The challenges to cooperative government 

      Steytler, Nico; Jordan, Janis (Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape, 2005)
      Outside of metropolitan areas, local government is shared by district and local municipalities; the 47 district municipalities and 231 local municipalities share legislative and administrative powers over the same geographical ...
    • DPLG's policy review process: Local government under the spotlight 

      de Visser, Jaap; Christmas, Annette; Baatjies, Reuben (Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape, 2007)
      On 31 July 2007, the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) initiated a policy review process of provincial and local government. It will ultimately result in a first White Paper on Provinces and a discussion ...
    • Electing councillors: A guide to municipal elections 

      de Visser, Jaap; Steytler, Nico (University of the Western Cape, 2016)
      The electoral system for local government combines ward elections with proportional representation. It is regulated in at least four different statutes, the Electoral Act 73 of 1998, the Local Government: Municipal Structures ...
    • Fact sheets on decentralisation in Africa 

      de Visser, Jaap; Chigwata, Tinashe (UTS ePRESS, 2022)
      A growing number of African countries are considering or implementing reforms that include forms of decentralisation. At times, these reforms are underpinned by (recent) constitutional change, as in Mozambique (2018), ...
    • Five suggestions to fix local government 

      de Visser, Jaap (State of Local Governance Publication, 2018)
      The past few weeks have brought the troubled state of local government to the fore with renewed vigour. The Auditor-General’s (AG) consolidated report over the 2016/2017 financial year presented a very bleak picture of the ...
    • Food security, urban governance and multilevel government in Africa 

      De Visser, Jaap (Springer, 2021)
      Realising the right to food requires more than an increase in food production. Increasing access to food is equally important, so this contribution adopts a “food systems approach”. Against the backdrop of a growing ...
    • Formulating the pillars of a turnaround strategy About Previous issues 

      Steytler, Nico; de Visser, Jaap; May, Annette (Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape, 2009)
      The turnaround strategy (TAS) for local government is gaining momentum. Initiated by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CGTA), the TAS is aimed at identifying the drivers of the distress in ...