L'etat, C'est Moi : why provincial intra-governmental disputes in South Africa remain ungoverned by the final constitution and the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act - and how we can best resolve them (original) (raw)

Codification of "Intergovernmental Relations" by Way of Legislation: The Experiences of South Africa and Potential Lessons for Young Multitiered Systems

Zeitschrift für ausländisches öfentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, ZAORV = Heidelberg Journal of International Law, HJIL, 2012

Young multitiered systems often do not have the luxury to develop intergovernmental institutions, forums and practices over a long period of time as may have been the case in established federations and decentralised unitary arrangements. The pressure for young multitiered systems to deliver services across an entire nation commences immediately after the enactment of a new constitution. The experiences of South Africa in setting up intergovernmental institutions and practices shortly after the promulgation of its 1993 Interim Constitution and the 1996 Final Constitution may be instructive to other emerging multitiered systems. South Africa has gone through * BA Law, LL.B, LL.D, Member of the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia. He is an expert in comparative constitutional law and practice, a Visiting Fellow of the Law Faculty of the University of Western Australia and an inaugural Fellow of the Western Australian Institute of Dispute Management under the auspices of the Murdoch University. The author has travelled widely and has undertaken research on constitutional and political developments in various countries. He has published extensively on a wide range of constitutional topics. He recently played a leading role as expert to the Forum of Federations on federalism projects in Ethiopia and Sudan. The author acknowledges with appreciation the support received from the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung to undertake this research.

Intergovernmental relations and co-operative government in South Africa:The ten-year review

The system of intergovernmental relations and co-operative government in South Africa is rapidly evolving, not only because of its constitutional/ legal framework but also because of the statutory commitment of the various spheres of government to the implementation of the principles of co-operative government and intergovernmental relations.This system of intergovernmental relations is crucial if policies are drafted or projects and programmes planned and implemented. Through the establishment of various institutional arrangements for intergovernmental relationsâ nd the successful operation of these structures^it is expected that all three spheres of government will continually strive to co-operate with one another in mutual trust and good faith.Without the effective operation of intergovernmental relations in South Africa, projects and programmes cannot succeed. In this article, the intergovernmental relations system in South Africa and its evolution over the past ten years of democracy will be reviewed.Reference will be made to the successes and failures of the current system of intergovernmental relations and possible solutions to remedy the mentioned failures will be suggested.

Cooperative Government and Intergovernmental Relations

Kenya adopted a new Constitution in 2010, with devolution as its centrepiece and most transformative aspect. Devolution was intended to address the many governance ,economic and development problems of the country which arose from the long history of a highly centralised, undemocratic and inequitable system. The system of devolution which the constitution has adopted is cooperative and not competitive. This is because compared to the repealed Constitution, county governments under the new Constitution are fully-fledged governments to engage in intergovernmental relations with the national government. This intergovernmental relations according to Mutakha in his book Constitution Law of Kenya on Devolution takes three dimensions; vertical, horinzontal and fiscal. The national and county governments are described as distinct and interdependent and must relate to each other in a cooperative and consultative manner. Comparative law, especially the South Africa jurisprudence and scholarly commentaries, provides instructive lessons, given the significant textual similarities between the Kenyan and South African Constitutional provisions on devolution. For instance, the notion of interdependent levels of government has drawn from the South African Jurisprudence and their interpretation has consequently relied on the South African jurisprudence. This study advances the argument that although this aspect was adopted in the Kenyan Gazette Supplement No. 55 ( The Constitution of Kenya), the main problem however, is how to give effect to the stated intent of the Kenyan people and make devolution a reality, since it is evident that one area in which Kenya has performed poorly in the last three years of implementing the devolved system of governance is that of cooperative government and intergovernmental relations and its the issue this paper is succintly premised to address.

Intergovernmental Relations on Foreign Affairs in South Africa: A Twenty Year Review

The Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 2020

This article analyses relations between South Africa's national and provincial governments on foreign affairs over the past 20 years. It departs from the premise that the idea of relative autonomy ofsubnational governments, which is embedded in South Africa's 1996 constitution, has remained largely underdeveloped owing to factors such as inherent ambiguities in the constitutional design, a strong centralising ethos on the part of the ruling party and generally weak provincial capacities. Consequently, relations between the national and provincial governments on foreign affairs have been low-key, predominantly focused on technical matters and generally of a top-down nature. Provincial governments have been virtually absent from the foreign policy-making process despite constitutional provisions to that effect. What is more, the article notes that intergovernmental processes intended to coordinate provincial international relations and align them with national development prio...

The external relations of selected south African subnational governments: A preliminary assessment

South African Journal of International Affairs, 1997

There is an international tendency for constituent units of states (be it provinces, Länder, regions, states and even local governments) to forge international partnerships, engage in efforts of micro regionalism and/or sign international agreements, contributing to the perforation of the sovereignty of nation-states as well as raising concerns about the future of the nation-state. South Africa is no exception in this regard. This article explores the constitutional provisions elsewhere regarding the foreign relations role of subnational governments, investigates the means of collaboration and coordination of the foreign relations of national and subnational governments, analyses the South African constitutional provisions relating to the provinces and their foreign affairs status against a comparative background and provides a preliminary inventory of foreign relations of South African subnational governments.