The constitutional basis of local government

Abstract

Local government in South Africa has been through a process of major transformation, and is materially different from what it was under the apartheid regime. Under the new constitution, local government has been afforded the status of a sphere of government, along with national and provincial government. However the form and structure of local government are not provided for in the constitution. The purpose of this study is to examine the constitutional imperatives set for local government in the constitution, how local government is to function in order to achieve these, and whether local government is able to achieve these objectives. This paper has depended mainly on research through data collection. One of the main findings of this paper is that the constitutional provisions regarding local government place an obligation on the other spheres to support local government, the failure of which will led to local government not being able to achieve its constitutional imperatives.