Municipal Structures Bill: discussion

Meeting report

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
22 September 1998
MUNICIPAL STRUCTURES BILL [B68-98]: DISCUSSION

Documents handed out:

Proposed amendments on Municipal Structures Bill [B68 –98]

The topic of discussion was Schedule 5, the Code of Conduct for municipal councillors. Most discussion centered on minor issues of phrasing and structure.

The sole substantial suggestion for change came from Mr P Smith of the IFP. Mr. Smith observed that section 15, which provides for disciplining a traditional leader who participates in council proceedings and breaches the Code of Conduct, does not specify that the leader’s constituency should still be consulted on matters affecting the area even if the Council suspends the leader’s right to participate in the Council. The chair, Mr. Yunus Carrim of the ANC, acknowledged that Mr. Smith was correct and asked representatives from the Department of Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development to draft an amendment to remedy this oversight.

When discussions of the Code were finished, the chair asked all members to forego proposing any further amendment to it unless they were "fundamentally new." Shortly thereafter, the monitor departed.

The afternoon session of this meeting was only partly monitored. The Chairperson, Mr Y Carrim, stated that clause 81 was unclear and needed to be rewritten. Clause 81 deals with the functions and powers between local and district municipalities.