DELEGATION OF POWERS AND DUTIES

Municipal councils have both legislative and executive authority in their area. In other words, they are responsible both for formulating legislation (by-laws) and for developing programmes to implement or execute that legislation.

However, given the very wide range of powers and duties that councils have, they would find it difficult to give adequate time and attention to both the development of legislation and to overseeing the programmes to implement that legislation. No municipal council can fulfil all its powers and duties without delegating at least some of its powers and duties.

Delegation does not mean that the municipal council is no longer responsible for service delivery. Municipal councils do, in fact, remain responsible for all their powers and duties, even when they have delegated these powers. Councils therefore need to develop systems to ensure that delegated functions are properly performed. For example, the municipal council should receive regular progress reports on the various functions it has delegated.

What is delegation?

By delegating a power or duty, a municipal council is giving authority to another committee or individual to exercise that power or perform that duty on its behalf. The municipal council as a whole, however, remains responsible for all its powers and duties.

Municipal councils, for example, are constitutionally responsible for the provision of services to communities. However, the delivery of services entails the management of assets such as landfill sites, buses, and bulk disposal plants, as well as the management of numerous staff. To fulfil its responsibilities for service delivery, the municipal council must delegate authority to the officials who manage its various service delivery departments.

POWERS WHICH MAY NOT BE DELEGATED

In terms of section 160 of the Constitution, municipal councils may not delegate the following powers:

  • The passing of by-laws.
  • The approval of budgets.
  • The imposition of rates and other taxes, levies and duties.
  • The raising of loans.

In addition to these powers, municipal councils may not delegate the approval of, or amendment to, their integrated development plans (IDPs). These issues affect every aspect of the council's business, and decisions on these issues should therefore be debated at a full meeting of council.

The Municipal Structures Act spells out in detail three different executive systems of municipal government, each with a different way of allocating or delegating specific responsibilities to individual councillors, or to groups (committees) of councillors. These are described in some detail in Systems of municipal government, Plenary executive system, Collective executive system, Mayoral executive system and Executive powers, duties and committees.

Introduction | Responsibilities of municipal councils | Delegation of powers and duties | Community participation and accountability | Municipal types | Systems of municipal government | Plenary executive system | Collective executive system | Mayoral executive system | Executive powers, duties and committees | The ward participatory system | The subcouncil participatory system | Combining the systems of government to form municipal types | Applying types to individual municipalities | Conclusion | Annexure A | Annexure B

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