Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Bill: deliberations

PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
3 June 1998
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: MUNICIPAL DEMARCATION BILL [B36-98]: DELIBERATIONS

Documents handed out:
Amendments for consideration flowing from discussions in the Portfolio Committee of the afternoon/evening of 2 June 1998 (Appendix 1)
Proposal for the amendment of Section 25 (Appendix 2)

SUMMARY
The final amendments were deliberated on today. After party caucusing today, the Committee will vote on the Bill tomorrow afternoon and it will be debated in the National Assembly on Friday, 5 June 1998.

DETAILED MINUTES
Mr Olver went through the amendments that were agreed upon in yesterday's late-night session (see Document for additions in bold and omissions in brackets). These were:

Clause 25 (b) [and more specifically] including
This had been the proposal of Mr P Smith (IFP) and had been agreed to as these are simply examples of other models/types on the table and it is not possible to be exhaustive. Mr Watson (NP) felt that by doing this, there was a "lifting up" of certain types which was subtly unfair, but agreed to it.

Clause 25 (e) and (f) have been inserted.

Clause 25 (l) in conjunction with Clause 42 (c)
These clauses were even further amended today:

Clause 25 (l)
"the need to rationalise the total number of municipalities of different categories and types of municipalities for the purpose of effective and sustainable service delivery...."
was changed to
"the need to rationalise the total number of municipalities within the [of] different categories and types of municipalities to achieve the objectives of effective and sustainable service delivery...."

Clause 42 (c)
(c) by prescribing objectives and generaI targets for the rationalisation of
[municipalities or] different categories and types of municipalities as contemplated in section 25(k).
was changed to
(c) by prescribing objectives and generaI targets for the rationalisation of
municipalities [or different categories and types of municipalities] as contemplated in section 25(l).

At this stage the chairperson appealed to committee members not to be "unduly esoteric" and that if a point regarding the redrafting of language in the Bill was not of political or technical importance, that he would have to cut them short.

Clause 40
In terms of accountability, reports will go both to provincial and national houses.

Clause 42 (1)
The repetitious [after the Board has been consulted] has been removed as well as a few other minor changes to 42 (1) (a)
A new amendment stemming from today's meeting:
Clause 42 1 (b) changes to (c) and vice versa, this was on the request of Mr Eglin (DP).

The last stumbling block for the Inkatha Freedom Party to agree to the Bill relates to Clause 25 (b). Mr M Bhabha had thus drafted a proposal to accommodate the IFP which was circulated. This will be discussed in the party caucuses this afternoon and Mr Bhabha hopes that the ANC will reach agreement on this proposal.

A contentious point for the National Party is that the selection panel that chooses the members of the Demarcation Board should have a measure of parliamentary oversight in the process (ie membership of parliamentary members without voting rights). The National Party asserts that the selection panel is not independent enough as 4 of the 6 members would have clear political party alignment. On this point, Mr Bhabha said that the ANC caucus was not able to accommodate the National Party.

The Democratic Party would have a final consultation in their caucus this afternoon but it would seem that the Bill is acceptable according to Mr Eglin.

The draft Structures Bill has been gazetted and will be circulated to the provinces immediately. It will be undergoing further changes as a direct result of the Cape Metropolitan Council's submission heard on Friday, 29 May 1998. There will be a briefing meeting for the committee on Wednesday, 10 June 1998.

Mr Watson (NP) complained about process. He stated that public hearings had been held in his province, Mpumalanga, on the original Demarcation Bill which had subsequently "been torn to pieces" and greatly amended by the committee.
What was the object of such hearings if the bill no longer bore any resemblance to its original?

The chairperson agreed that this was a valid question and that the timing had been bad, especially as there had been a ten-day delay because of the tagging botch-up (B36-98 was wrongly tagged S76 before being changed to an S75 bill). However he believed that the Department could not have introduced the Bill any earlier. Further he was convinced that the majority party had been extremely conciliatory and tried to accommodate all parties' viewpoints in order to secure the support of all parties for this bill. Even though it had been a rushed process, more than 26 hours had been devoted to deliberations in the last week and he felt it would not be fair if any party postured during the National Assembly debate that the Bill had been bull-dozed through.

Mr P Smith said that he endorsed what Mr Carrim said but that the provinces must avoid such duplication by ensuring that there is a carefully structured programme for the passage of a bill.

Appendix 1: Amendments to Bill

AS ON 3 JUNE 1998 (8h15)

AMENDMENTS AGREED TO

LOCAL GOVERNMENT: MUNICIPAL DEMARCATION BILL [B 36-98]

CLAUSE 1

1. On page 6, in line 10, to omit "section 26(1)" and to substitute "the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998".

2. On page 6, from line 13, to omit the definition of "municipality" and to substitute:

municipality" means a municipality mentioned in section 155(6) of the Constitution and includes a municipality which existed when this Act took effect; (xi)

3. On Page 6, in line 22, to omit "section 32 and".

4. On page 6, in line 25 to omit "those" and to substitute "the".

CLAUSE 4

1. On page 6, from line 37, to omit section 4 and to substitute:

4. The function of the Board is to determine municipal boundaries in accordance with this Act and other appropriate legislation enacted in terms of Chapter 7 of the Constitution.

5. On page 8, in line 46, after "who" to insert "after 4 February 1997".

6. On page 8 in line 48, to omit "(b)" and to substitute "(c)".

CLAUSE 8

1. On page 10, from line 11, to omit "on Constitutional Affairs and Public Administration of the National Council of Provinces" and to substitute "responsible for local government matters".

CLAUSE 12

1. On page 12, in line 17, to omit "or" and to substitute "and".

CLAUSE 13

1. On page 12, in line 27, to omit paragraph (d).

2. On page 12, in line 33, after "is" to omit "appointed as".

CLAUSE 15

1. On page 12, in line 52, after "but" to insert "must convene a meeting if".

2. On page 14, in line 1, to omit "may".

CLAUSE 16

1. On page 14, in line 7, to omit "own" and to substitute "internal".

CLAUSE 18

1. On page 14, in line 25, to omit the first "and".

2. On page 14, in line 25, after "12" to insert "and 13(3) also".

3. On page 14, in line 25, to omit "in such application" and after the second "and" to insert "when those sections are applied to members of a committee".

CLAUSE 21

1. On page 16, from line 10, to omit paragraph (a) and to substitute for the following paragraph:

(a) must determine municipal boundaries in the territory of the Republic; and

2. On page 16, after line 13, to insert the following subsection:

(2) Any determination or redetermination of a municipal boundary must be consistent with this Act and other appropriate legislation enacted in terms of Chapter 7 of the Constitution.

CLAUSE 22

1. On page 16, from line 23, to omit paragraphs (a) and (b) and to substitute:

(a)

(i) on its own initiative;

(ii) on request by the Minister or a MEC for local government; or

(iii) on request by a municipality with the concurrence of any other municipality affected by the proposed determination or redetermination; and

(b) in accordance with priorities and reasonable time-frames for demarcation determined by the Minister in consultation with the MEC's for local government after the Board has been consulted.

CLAUSE 23

1. On page 16, from line 32, to omit paragraph (a) and to substitute for the following paragraph:

(a) will affect the representation of voters in the council of any of the municipalities affected by the boundary determination, the determination takes effect from the date of the next election in the area concerned; or

CLAUSE 24

1. On page 18, in line 1, after "in" to omit "a" and to insert "an equitable and".

2. On page 18, in line 5, after "integrated" to omit "social and economic planning and".

CLAUSE 25

1.On page 18, from line 9, to omit section 25 and to substitute:

25. In order to attain the objectives set out in section 24, the Board must, when determining a municipal boundary, take into account-

(a) the interdependence of people, communities and economies as indicated by-

(i) existing and expected patterns of human settlement and migration;

(ii) employment;

(iii) commuting and dominant transport movements;

(iv) spending;

(v) the use of amenities, recreational facilities and infrastructure; and

(vi) commercial and industrial linkages;

(b) the need to establish a cohesive, unfragmented area, [and more specifically] including the need to-

(i) retain a functionally integrated metropolitan area as a cohesive, unfragmented unit;

(ii) include a rural area in a municipality which has a town as its core if that town has a strong social and economic linkage with that rural area and functions primarily as a service centre for that rural area or

(iii) include in a municipality which has a city or a large town as its core any formal or informal settlements or industrial or commercial developments on the fringe of that city or town;

(c) the financial viability and administrative capacity of the municipality to perform municipal functions efficiently and effectively;

(d) the need to share and redistribute financial and administrative resources;

(e) provincial and municipal boundaries;

(f) areas of traditional rural communities;

(g) existing and proposed functional boundaries, including magisterial districts, voting districts, health, transport, police and census enumerator boundaries;

(h) existing and expected land use, social, economic and transport planning;

(i) the need for co-ordinated municipal, provincial and national programmes and services, including the needs for the administration of justice and health care

(j) topographical, environmental and physical characteristics of the area;

(k) the administrative consequences of its boundary determination on-

(i) municipal creditworthiness;

(ii) existing municipalities, their council members and staff; and (iii) any other relevant matter.

(I) the need to rationalise the total number of municipalities of different categories and types of municipalities for the purposes of effective and sustainable service delivery, financial viability and macro-economic stability.

CLAUSE 26

1. On page 18, from line 51, to omit Clause 26.

CLAUSE 27

1.On page 20, in line 20, after "notice" to insert "in the area concerned".

2. On page 20, from line 21, to omit subsection (3) and to substitute:

(3) The Board must send by registered post, electronic means or by hand a copy of the notice to-

(a) the MEC for local government in the province concerned;

(b) each municipality that will be affected by the Board's consideration of the matter;

(c) the magistrate concerned if any magisterial district is affected; and

(d) the provincial House of Traditional Leaders concerned established by provincial legislation in terms of section 212(2)(a) of the Constitution if the boundary of a traditional authority is affected, and invite them to submit written representations or their views on the matter to the Board within the period determined in terms of subsection (1).

CLAUSE 29

1.On page 20, after line 37, to insert the following subsection:

(2) When the Board publishes a notice, it must convey, where appropriate, by radio or other appropriate means of communication the contents of the notice in the area concerned.

CLAUSE 31

1.On page 22, in line 6, after "person" to insert "who in its opinion has information which is material to the investigation".

2. On page 22, in line 16, to omit "examine" and to substitute "question" and to omit "examined" and to substitute "questioned".

CLAUSE 32

1. On page 22, from line 21, to omit section 32 and to substitute:

Demarcation affecting existing municipalities.

32. The legal, practical and other consequences resulting from the area of a municipality being wholly Dr partially incorporated in or combined with the area of another municipality, must be dealt with in terms of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998.

CLAUSE 37

1. On page 24, in line 31, after "source" to insert "through the National Revenue Fund".

CLAUSE 40

1. On page 26, in line 10, to omit "Annual report" and to substitute "Accountability and

reporting".

2. On page 26, from line 11, to omit subsection (1) and to substitute:

(1) (a) The Board is accountable to Parliament and must annually submit to both Houses of Parliament a written report on the activities of the Board during a financial year.

(b) A copy of the report must also be submitted to each provincial legislature.

CLAUSE 41

1. On page 26, in line 27, to omit "person, including" and to substitute "member of'.

CLAUSE 42

1. On page 26, from line 30, to omit section 42 and to substitute:

42. (1) The Minister [after the Board has been consulted,] may make regulations not inconsistent with this Act or any Act of Parliament-

(a) by prescribing on the advice of the Board further procedures relating to the way in which the Board [must] operates when performing its function;

(b) concerning any matter referred to in this Act which in the opinion of the Minister is necessary or expedient for the effective carrying out or furtherance of the provisions and objects of this Act; or

(c) by prescribing objectives and generaI targets for the rationalisation of [municipalities or] different categories and types of municipalities as contemplated in section25(k).

CLAUSE 46

1. On page 28, in line 12, after "1998" to insert:

and takes effect on the date on which the Local Government : Municipal Structures Act, 1998, comes into effect.

(2) Chapter 1 comes into effect on the date of the publication of this Act.

Appendix 2: Proposal for the amendment of Section 25

Draft Proposal for Clause 25 of B36-98:

CLAUSE 25

1.On page 18, from line 9, to omit section 25 and to substitute:

25. In order to attain the objectives set out in section 24, the Board must, when determining a municipal boundary, take into account-

(a) the interdependence of people, communities and economies as indicated by-

(i) existing and expected patterns of human settlement and migration;

(ii) employment;

(iii) commuting and dominant transport movements;

(iv) spending;

(v) the use of amenities, recreational facilities and infrastructure; and

(vi) commercial and industrial linkages;

(b) the need for [to establish a] cohesive, integrated and unfragmented areas, [and more specifically] including metropolitan areas. [the need to-

(i) retain a functionally integrated metropolitan area as a cohesive, unfragmented unit;

(ii) include a rural area in a municipality which has a town as its core if that town has a strong social and economic linkage with that rural area and functions primarily as a service centre for that rural area; or

(iii) include in a municipality which has a city or a large town as its core, any formal or informal settlements or industrial or commercial developments on the fringe of that city or town;]

(c) the financial viability and administrative capacity of the municipality to perform municipal functions efficiently and effectively;

(d) the need to share and redistribute financial and administrative resources;

Demfin

AV/1998.06.03

08h15