The Local Government Bulletin: Back to the Future

The Dullah Omar Institute is very proud to re-introduce the Local Government Bulletin, our regular newsletter with articles, updates and opinion pieces on local government law, policy and practice. The first Bulletin appeared in 1999, on the eve of the first democratic local government elections. The founding editors were Nico Steytler (now South African Research Chair in Multilevel Government) and Johann Mettler (now City Manager of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality) assisted by Jaap de Visser (now Director of the Dullah Omar Institute).

For the next 13 years, we produced more than 50 editions of the Bulletin with the involvement of a growing cohort of young scholars. We closely followed the first decade of local government with updates and analysis. The articles dealt with the demarcation of municipalities, the introduction of the Municipal Finance Management Act, debates about the role of district municipalities, a new property rates regime, analysis of civic protests and numerous critical court judgments on procurement, evictions, housing and planning powers and many, many other issues. These articles are all freely available here. From 2012, we took a break from producing the Bulletin but we are excited to continue where we left off and introduce the first edition of Volume 14. We have moved with the time; the Bulletin is now available electronically. However, the objective remains the same: we will regularly publish short, accessible articles related to local governance. You can expect to see on these pages, our practical summaries of new Bills, reports on judgments that affect municipalities, updates of new policies and programmes and incisive analysis by our editors and brilliant young writers at the Dullah Omar Institute. This edition starts on a high note with:

  • a summary of the Municipal Structures Amendment Bill,
  • an analysis of the impact of the falling away of the 2011 Municipal Systems Amendment Act and its rules on the appointment of senior managers,
  • an assessment of the (non-)use of intervention powers by provinces,
  • an examination of the role of municipalities in promoting food security, and
  • a regional focus, evaluating the implementation of devolution in Zimbabwe

We hope that the content of the Bulletin will benefit you. Please visit our home page for more information and detail on how to send us feedback and/or contributions.

 

By Editors: Tinashe Carlton Chigwata (Chief Editor), Jaap de Visser and Nico Steytler