The democratisation of South African local government

Abstract

The historical apartheid basis of South African local government was examined in Part I of this article in Local Government Studies Vol. 21, No. 3. Part II of the article describes the democratisation of South African local government in the 1990s. The country's first non-racial local government elections took place on a nationwide basis in November 1995, with the exception of KwaZulu-Natal province and portions of the Western Cape where elections are due to be held in early 1996. This paper provides an overview of the South African local government process as the country moves towards democratic local government elections. This entails examining the operation of the Local Government Negotiating Forum (LGNF), which acted as the midwife of local government reform, the Local Government Transition Act (LGTA) and the relevant local government provisions in the Interim Constitution. Particular attention is focused on local negotiating forums, appointed pre-interim councils, provincial committees, demarcation boards, metropolitan government, overrepresentation of minorities in the elected interim phase, decision-making mechanisms, ward councils, rural local government, finance, the agreement on local government finances and service, the constitutional status of local government and the final phase of local government.

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