Cross Boundary Municipality Amendment Bill: briefing; Municipal Systems Bill: further amendments & adoption

Meeting report

PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
20 September 2000
CROSS BOUNDARY MUNICIPALITY AMENDMENT BILL: BRIEFING, MUNICIPAL SYSTEMS BILL: FORMAL REVERSION AND ADOPTION

Documents handed out:
Local Government: Municipal Systems Bill [B27B- 2000]
Preamble of Municipal Systems Bill (to be inserted in Bill - see Appendix 1)
Municipal Systems Bill: amendments not reflected in amendment document of 15 September 2000, but as is reflected in B27B-2000. (Document A - see Appendix 2)
Municipal Systems Bill: proposed further amendments (Document B - see Appendix 3)

SUMMARY
The Demarcation Board briefed the committee on necessary changes that they have made to the present Cross Boundary Municipality Act which will be set out in the proposed Cross Boundary Municipality Amendment Bill. The committee also returned to the Municipal Systems Bill that they had already adopted last week in order to effect last minute-changes to it. It was once again adopted at the end of the meeting.

MINUTES
Cross Boundary Municipalities Amendment Bill
Dr Michael Sutcliffe, head of the Demarcation Board, briefed the committee on changes that they wish to make to the present Act that was passed in June. He gave the committee some examples of amendments that needed to be made:
· Adjacent to Soweto is a housing development that does not fall under the Johannesburg municipality. As with Soweto, all services are provided by the Johannesburg municipality. He stated that housing developments Protea Glen 11 and 12 is included in the Westonaria ward even though the voters were registered in Johannesburg. They therefore wanted to include them under Johannesburg.

· In Pretoria there is a garage owner who owns a farm across the road from his garage, but the farm does not fall under Pretoria. This will now be included under Pretoria.

· In the North West Province a boundary splits a village into different wards. This is inappropriate and should be corrected before the elections.

· In the Northern Province a boundary splits a community. As a result, a portion of this community did not participate in the 1995 local elections. The aim is to include them under one boundary.

· In Burgerspoort, Chief Malakane's area of traditional leadership is split. This he felt is a common problem facing traditional leaders.

Mr Sutcliffe explained that in order to change the above boundaries they need to get the permission of the provincial legislatures. The provincial legislatures must confirm their assent by way of resolution. He added that the Demarcation Board and the IEC are in agreement that these amendments must be done before the local elections. Mr Sutcliffe emphasised that the Bill is very technical.

Mr Sutcliffe reverted back to the issue of traditional leaders and stated that the Demarcation Board needs to re-assess the boundaries that affect traditional leaders. He stated that he had written to various committees stating that if they are aware of boundaries that affect traditional leaders they must inform the board. He stated that there are approximately 30-40 amendments that must be effected in the Kwazulu Natal and Eastern Cape area. Mr Sutcliffe stated that these amendments would be reflected in the Bill when it is published on 22 September 2000. He added that these amendments would reflect the boundaries to be used for the upcoming local elections. Any amendments coming before the Demarcation Board after this date would not be able to be processed in time for the purposes of this election. Mr Sutcliffe stated that in real terms the amendments would merely be shuffling people from one ward to another.

Discussion
Mr Carrim, the Chair, suggested that the committee meet on 3 October 2000 to discuss the Bill. The committee agreed.

Mr Sithole (ANC) asked why is there a situation where people live in the same areas but fall under different wards.

Mr Sutcliffe explained that South Africa does not have an address-based voters roll. He added that the wards are haphazard because geographical divisions are used. He said that if the adjustments are minor it could be effected by the elections but if they are major it would be for the next elections.

The Chair asked whether the elections are still going to take place as scheduled.
Mr Sutcliffe stated that it is still going to take place between 1 November 2000 and 30 January 2001.

The Chair commented that he does not foresee any problems cropping up with processing this Bill.

Municipal Systems Bill
The Chair formally returned to Bill that the committee had passed on the 15 September 2000. Mr Solo (ANC) seconded the Chair's decision. The reasoning behind this was to effect the changes to the Bill that they had agreed on after passing the Bill on 15 September 2000 [see Municipal Systems Bill: Proposed Further Amendments].

The Chair suggested that they remove the phrase, "systems of" in paragraph 4 of the Preamble of the Bill. The paragraph would now read, "Whereas a fundamental aspect of the local government system is the active engagement of communities in the affairs of municipalities of which they are an integral part, and in particular in [systems of] planning, service delivery and performance management.

The committee had already prior to this meeting, agreed to these amendments so not much discussion ensued. The Chair noted this consideration was a formality to check the correctness of the proposed amendment.

Once the committee had accepted the amendments, the Chair put the Bill with its amendments formally before the committee for adoption. It was adopted.

The Chair thanked the committee, the Department and the committee clerk, Llewellyn Brown for the outstanding work that they had done on the Bill.

The meeting was adjourned.

Appendix 1:
PREAMBLE
Whereas the system of local government under apartheid failed dismally to meet the basic needs of the majority of South Africans;

Whereas the Constitution of our non-racial democracy enjoins local government not just to seek to provide services to all our people but to be fundamentally developmental in orientation;

Whereas there is a need to set out the core principles, mechanisms and processes that give meaning to developmental local government and to empower municipalities to move progressively towards the social and economic upliftment of communities and the provision of basic services to all our people, and specifically the poor and the disadvantaged;

Whereas a fundamental aspect of the new local government system is the active engagement of communities in the affairs of municipalities of which they are an integral part, and in particular in systems of planning, service delivery and performance management;

Whereas the new system of local government requires an efficient, effective and transparent local public administration that conforms to constitutional principles;

Whereas there is a need to ensure financially and economically viable municipalities;

Whereas there is a need to create a more harmonious relationship between municipal councils, municipal administrations and the local communities through the acknowledgement of reciprocal rights and duties;

Whereas there is a need to develop a strong system of local government capable of exercising the functions and powers assigned to it; and

Whereas this Act is an integral part of a suite of legislation that gives effect to the new system of local government;

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:-

Appendix 2:
MUNICIPAL SYSTEMS BILL: AMENDMENTS NOT REFLECTED IN AMENDMENT DOCUMENT OF 15/9/2000
Note: This documents reflects the amendments affected to the Systems Bill after
15/9/2000, and which are not reflected in the amendment documents considered on that date. The clauses referred to are the clauses as they existed on the said date- the new clause is indicated in brackets.

· The Table of Contents has been re-ordered and re-numbered.

· The Long Title has been amended as indicated below:
To provide for the core principles, mechanisms and processes that are necessary to enable municipalities to move progressively towards the social and economic upliftment of local communities, and ensure universal access to essential services that are affordable to all; to define the legal nature of municipality as including residents and communities the local communities within the municipal area, working in partnership with the municipality's political and administrative structures; to provide for the manner in which municipal powers and duties are exercised and performed; to provide for [public] community participation; to provide for the manner in which municipal powers and duties are exercised and performed;] to establish a simple and enabling framework for the core processes of planning, performance management, resource mobilisation and organisational change which underpin the notion of developmental local government; to provide a framework for local public administration and human resource development; to empower the poor and ensure that municipalities put in place service tariffs and credit control policies that take their needs into account by providing a framework for the provision of services, service delivery agreements and municipal service districts; to provide for credit control and debt collection; to establish a framework for support, monitoring and standard setting by other spheres of government in order to progressively build local government into an efficient, frontline development agency capable of integrating the activities of all spheres of government for the overall social and economic upliftment of communities in harmony with their local natural environment; to provide for legal matters pertaining to local government; and to provide for matters incidental thereto.

· p10, definition of delegating authority: corrected the reference to structure and functionary. (p11).

· p11, definition of financial sustainability: uncertain whether to include "at least".(p12)

· p26, cl 20(2): consequential shift of "or". (cl 20(2))

· At the end of chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8: consequential amendments effected to option 2.

· p37, cl 41: Changed heading. (cl 40)

· p38, cl 47(1)(a)(i): insertion of "of". (cl 46)

· p40, cl 50: Changed heading. (cl 49)

· New clause 62(2) as adopted on 15/9: should "policy" not be "policy framework". (cl 60(2))

· p50 cl 69(1)(b): italics reversed. (cl 67)

· p51 cl 69(3): take out underlining. (cl 67)

· New clause 72A as adopted on 15/9:
(cl 71)

· p52, cl 73: Note re-typed version of amendment not in accordance with written text. (cl 72)

· p55: Add "and" after new cl 77(b)(iii)(bb). (cl 76)

· p56, cl 79(1)(a)(iv): insertion of "job creation" must still be effected (cl 78)

· p56, cl 79 (1): Addition of new paragraph (b). (cl 78)

· cl 79(1)(a)(iii): Add reference to section 51 and 68.

· New cl 85(3): Add "referred to in subsection (1)". (cl 83(3))

· p62, cl 89: Changed heading. (cl 88)

· p64, cl 92(1)(a): reversed italics. (cl 91)

· p64, cl 92(2)(f): Shifted "and". (cl 91(2)(g))

· New cl 92(2)(h): Add "to" at beginning of paragraph. (cl 91(2)(h))

· p66, cl 95(1): Deleted paragraphs (i) to (p). (cl. 94)

· p70, cl 105: Changed heading. (cl 104)

· New cl 105: Removed "regulate". (cl 104(1)(l))

· p75, cl 116(a): Changed "to a mun" to "at a mun". (cl 14(a))

· p78, cl 122(7): Remove the reference to "Government". (cl 120(7))

· p79, cl 125: Replace the clause. (cl 124)

· p84, item 14 Sch 1: Made "committees" singular. (p88)

· p85, item 14(3) Sch 1: "base" replaced with "based". (p89)

· p89, item 7(a) Sch 2: Insert "unduly". (p93)

· p90, item 13 Sch 2: Rectified reference to "staff member". (p94)

· Note: Schedule 1 does not reflect the scheme adopted in respect of the rest of the Bill - eg item 11(b) and (c) that refer to "employee".

· New clause 57(7) on page 49 of final document: Changed cross-reference to Sub (6).

Appendix 3:
MUNICIPAL SYSTEMS BILL: PROPOSED FURTHER AMENDMENTS

LONG TITLE
1. On page 7, to replace line 4 with the following:
that are affordable to all; define the legal nature of a municipality as including the

2. On page 7, in the seventh line to replace 'municipal powers and duties" with "municipal functions and powers".

CLAUSE 1
1. On page 8, in the definition of "district municipality" to replace "contemplated" with envisaged.

2. On page 8, in the definition of "local municipality" to replace "contemplated" with envisaged.

CLAUSE 2
1. On page 10, in clause 2(b)(i) to delete "political office bearers"

CLAUSE 3
1. On page 10, to insert the following new subclause after subclause (1):
(2) The national and provincial spheres of government must, within the constitutional system of co-operative government envisaged in section 41 of the Constitution, exercise their executive and legislative authority in a manner that does not compromise or impede a municipality's ability or right to exercise its executive and legislative authority.

2. On page 10, to insert the following paragraph after clause (2)(a):
(b) enhance co-operation, mutual assistance and sharing of resources among municipalities;

CLAUSE 6
1. On page 11, to insert the following paragraph after subclause (2)(b):
(c) take measures to prevent corruption;

CLAUSE 12
1. On page 13, in subclause (4)(b) to replace "draft standard by-laws" with "standard draft by-laws"

CLAUSE 17
1. On page 15, in subclause (4) to replace "members of a committee" with "members of such a committee".

CLAUSE 20
1. On page 16, to add the following paragraph to subclause (2)
(f) any other matter prescribed by regulation.

CLAUSE 22
1. On page 17, to delete subclause (5).

CLAUSE 33
1. On page 21, in subclause (5), after "decision" to insert "and informed the municipality".

CLAUSE 37
1. On page 23, to delete subclause (5).

CLAUSE 41
1. On page 23, in subclause (1 )(e)(i), before "political structures" to insert "other".

CLAUSE 45
1. On page 24, to replace "41(c)" with "41(1)(c)".

CLAUSE 47
1. On page 25 in subclause (2)(a) to replace "under perform" with "under-performed".

CLAUSE 49
1. On page 26, to delete subclause (5).

CLAUSE 51
1. On page 26, in paragraph (j), to replace "decision making" with "decision-making".

CLAUSE 56
1. On page 28, at the end of paragraph (b), to add:
,taking into account the protection or advancement of persons or categories of persons disadvantaged by unfair discrimination.

CLAUSE 57
1. On page 29, in subclause (5) to replace "(3)(a)" with "(4)(a)".

2. On page 29, in subclause (6)(d) to replace "practises" with "practices

CLAUSE 59
1. On page 29, in subclause (1)(a), to insert "other" before "political structures".

CLAUSE 60
1. On page 30, in subclause (2) to replace "policy" with "policy framework".

CLAUSE 71
1. On page 32 to replace the clause with the following:
Bargaining council agreements
71. Municipalities must comply with any collective agreements concluded by organised local government within its mandate on behalf of local government in the bargaining council established for municipalities.

CLAUSE 72
1. On page 33, to delete subclause (5).

CLAUSE 75
1. On page 34, in subclause (2) to insert "and" before "geographical".

CLAUSE 78
1. On page 35, in subclause (1 )(a)(iv), after "development" to insert ",job creation".

CLAUSE 81
1. On page 37, in subclause (5) to shift "improperly" to before "receive"

CLAUSE 85
1 On page 39, in subclause (3)(c)(i) after "tariff' to insert "or levy"

CLAUSE 95
1 On Page 42, to delete subclause (6)

CLAUSE 123
1 On page 49, to delete subclause (3)