The Practice in Selected Metropolitan Municipalities on Mechanisms

The 1996 Constitution has enhanced and entrenched local government as a sphere of government, alongside the national and provincial spheres, which are all distinctive but inter-dependent and interrelated. With the new recognition, local governments are now vested with the mandate of development of the local communities by providing services that improve the social and economic conditions of the people. This mandate of local government is moulded in the concept of developmental local government. Developmental local government has been defined as local government committed to working with citizens and groups within the community to find sustainable ways to meet their social, economic and material needs and improve the quality of their lives. This mandate finds its origin in the Constitution where local governments have been established with the objectives of providing democratic and accountable government to local communities and to ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. These are, among others, the constitutional framework objectives within which local governments must and has been operating since the 1996 Constitution.