Introduction
Legislation and policies
Budget
Introduction
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is responsible for facilitating cooperative governance, to support all spheres of Government and to assist the institution of traditional leadership with transforming itself into a strategic partner of Government in the development of communities.
The department’s mission is to ensure that all municipalities perform their basic responsibilities and functions consistently by:
- putting people and their concerns first
- supporting the delivery of municipal services to the right quality and standard
- promoting good governance, transparency and accountability
- ensuring sound financial management and accounting
- building institutional resilience and administrative capability.
Legislation and policies
The department oversees the implementation of, among other things, the following legislation:
- Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (Act 13 of 2005).
- Municipal Property Rates Act, 2004 (Act 6 of 2004).
- Municipal Property Rates Amendment Act, 2009 (Act 19 of 2009).
- Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act 56 of 2003).
- Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act 57 of 2002).
- Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2002).
- Municipal Systems Amendment Act, 2011 (Act 7 of 2011).
- Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act 117 of 1998).
- Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Act, 1998 (Act 27 of 1998).
- National House of Traditional Leaders Act, 2009 (Act 22 of 2009), and the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, 2003 (Act 41 of 2003), which were consolidated by the National Traditional Affairs Bill to simplify the process. In September 2013, the Traditional Affairs Bill was published in the Government Gazette for public comment. The amendment of the legislation will also ensure, among other things, that traditional affairs, rather than only traditional leaders, will take centre stage. The Khoisan communities will also be fully represented in the National House of Traditional Leaders.
- The Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Amendment Act, 2014 (Act 29 of 2014) seeks to:
- regulate the categories of property in respect of which rates may be levied
- regulate the time frames of publication of the resolutions levying rates and what must be contained in the promulgated resolution;
- provide for the exclusion from the rates of certain categories of public service infrastructure;
- give powers to a municipality to levy different rates on vacant land;
- give power to the MEC of Local Government to extend the period of validity of a valuation roll by additional two years;
- amend the dates on which a supplementary valuation takes effect; and
- address the problems that have been experienced in the implementation of the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act, 2004.
Budget
The department’s initial budget for the 2017/18 financial year was R78.414 billion. During the 2017/18 Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure, the department received an additional appropriation of R49.5 million, which increased the appropriation to R78.463 billion.
Source: South Africa Yearbook 2017/18