LOCAL GOVERNMENT: WHITE PAPER REVIEW UNDER WAY

LOCAL GOVERNMENT: WHITE PAPER REVIEW UNDER WAY

• 10 April 2025
• Local & Provincial Government
• SA Legal Academy

The Department of Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs is apparently in the process of initiating ‘local government reform and restructuring over the short, medium, and long term’. In that context, the 1998 White Paper on Local Government is under review.

As a first step in consulting members of the public on what is envisaged, input is sought by 30 June 2025 on a discussion document developed with the aim of publishing a revised White Paper ‘in March 2026’.

According to the documents introductory section:

• ‘recommendations emanating from the … process requiring legislative amendments will be incorporated into a Local Government: General Laws Amendment Bill and other relevant pieces of national legislation, while
• ‘other systematic changes in the policy and legislative landscape and the politics and culture of the local government system will also be considered’.

Against that backdrop, the discussion document seeks to ‘identify and address … underlying systemic and structural challenges’ rather than focus on ‘the usual list of problems’. This is noting that:

• these are ‘typically symptoms, … not root causes’
• the ensuing ‘quick fix solutions’ little more than knee-jerk ‘reactions’
• ‘the South African public has understandably become cynical about the rhetoric of reform’, and that
• ‘this time around’ the focus will be on ‘decision-making and implementation to produce more decisive and effective results’.

Please click the links below for more information:

• discussion document
• 1998 White Paper (now under review)

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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