Supervision of Local Government discusses the role of national and provincial governments in supervising the functions of local government. The book analyses the legal status of local government, which is entrenched and protected by the Constitution, and examines the powers of the national and provincial governments to supervise local government.

Supervision of Local Government explores international practices in the supervision of local government and investigates general trends in the supervision of selected municipalities in South Africa. Shortcomings, inconsistencies and irregularities in the supervision of local government are identified.

The book discusses the concept of ‘supervision’ as it relates to local government in its broad sense, which includes monitoring, intervening in and supporting local government. Supervision of Local Government also explores the manifestation of the principles of cooperative government and subsidiarity in the supervision of local government by national and provincial governments.

Cooperative government requires that the other spheres of government intervene in local government to assist municipalities in managing their own affairs, while the principle of subsidiarity requires that services should be rendered at the lowest possible level of government. Thus, the national and provincial spheres have a duty to support the local sphere of government in fulfilling this duty and this duty is analysed in the book.

• Introduction to supervision of local government
• The status of local government in South Africa
  • Historical background 
  • Local government under the 1996 Constitution 
  • Status of local government: Comparative overview

• Monitoring of local government
  • Monitoring of local government by provincial government
  • Monitoring of local government by the national government 
  • The power to monitor local government is ancillary to the duty to support local government 
  • Monitoring of public institutions by state institutions supporting democracy 
  • Monitoring of local government: Comparative overview

• Intervention in local government
  • National government intervention in provincial government 
  • National government intervention in local government
  • Provincial government intervention in local government
  • Dissolution of a municipal council
  • Intervention in local government: Comparative overview

•  The practice of supervision of local government in South Africa
  • General trends in the supervision of local government
  • Supervision of specific municipalities
• Challenges facing the supervision of local government
  • Lack of dispute-settling mechanisms in the supervision of local government
  • Challenges of the delay in adopting the IRFA
  • The impact of party politics on the supervision of local government
  • The status and role of organised local government bodies in the national council of provinces
  • The lack of community consultation in intervention

• Conclusion
• Index

• National and provincial government officials involved in intergovernmental supervision
• Municipal managers
• In-house lawyers in local and provincial government
• Attorneys and advocates litigating in the area of local government
• Academics and students of local government law