PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 2A

EXAM

KGOTSO EDMOND MAAKE

Std 18028295
SECTION A
QUESTION 1

In your own words, differentiate between public relations in the private and the
public sectors. Provide examples to support your answers.
Public Relations in the private and public sectors
Private sector: a private sector is that part of the economy that is run by individuals
and companies for profit and there is no government intervention in it. Real life
examples of private sectors are Microsoft

Public sector: is when companies and corporations are being controlled by the
government. Examples of public sector is the military, law enforcement,
infrastructure (public roads, bridges, tunnels, water supply, sewers, electrical grids,
telecommunications, etc.)

Question 2
In your own words, distinguish between short term debt and long-term debt.
Further, substantiate your answer by providing examples that are relevant to
local governments in the South African context.

Short term debt is therefore also called current liabilities. Normally short term is
defined as a firm's financial obligations that are expected to be paid off within a year

Therefore, in the context of municipality a short term may incur in accordance with
the act to bridge out the shortfalls within a financial year during which the debt is
incurred, but only if it could reasonably expect to raise the required funds within the
financial year. Capital needs within the financial year to be repaid from specific funds
received from enforceable allocations or through long term commitment .

For a commitment to incur a short-term debt requires a prior resolution by the council
signed by the mayor and the accounting officer. Therefore, a council is not allowed to
renew or refinance such debt.

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 Examples of short-term liabilities are:
 Trade accounts payable.
 Accrued expenses.
 Taxes payable.
 Dividends payable.
 Customer deposits.
 Short-term debt.
 Current portion of long-term debt.
 Other accounts payable.

Long term debt is debt that matures in more than one year.

Therefore, in the context of municipality the long-term debt may only finance capital
expenditure on property, plant or equipment required to perform its functions as set
out in the Constitution and refinancing existing long-term debt under circumstances.
A long-term debt may in the case of a short-term debt only be incurred with the prior
approval of the council signed by the mayor and the accounting officer. In the case of
a long-term debt, the accounting officer must give notice of the intention of such debt
before the council meeting.

Therefore a municipality may borrow money for purposes of refinancing existing long
term debt only if the long long term debt has been lawfully incurred and the
refinancing does not extend the term of the debt beyond the useful life of the
property or equipment acquired and other normal financial requirements must be met

Examples of long-term liabilities are bonds payable, long-term loans, capital leases,

pension liabilities, post-retirement healthcare liabilities deferred compensation,
deferred revenues, deferred income taxes, and derivative liabilities

Question 3
You have been appointed as the Mayor of Bronkhorstspruit and you are
required to briefly explain the different categories of various municipalities. In
your explanation, provide examples of the various types of municipalities.
The Various Types of Municipalities

There are three categories of various municipalities namely:

1. Metropolitan Municipality
2. District Municipality
3. Local Municipality

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Metropolitan municipalities.

Metropolitan municipalities were brought about during reforms of the 1990s so that
cities could be governed as single entities.
In South Africa, a metropolitan municipality  is a municipality which executes all the
functions of local government for a city or conurbation. This is by contrast to areas
which are primarily rural, where the local government is divided into district
municipalities and local municipalities.
The Constitution, section 155.1.a, defines "Category A" municipalities. In the
Municipal Structures Act it is laid out that this type of local government is to be used
for conurbations, "centers of economic activity", areas "for which integrated
development planning is desirable", and areas with "strong interdependent social
and economic linkages".
The metropolitan municipality is similar to the consolidated city-county in the US,
although a South African metropolitan municipality is created by notice of
the provincial government, not by agreement between district and local
municipalities.

There is a total of 257 municipalities in South Africa, comprising eight metropolitan,

44 district and 205 local municipalities. (cloete, 2014)

South Africa has eight metropolitan municipalities, namely:

1. Buffalo City (East London)

2. City of Cape Town.
3. Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (East Rand)
4. City of eThekwini (Durban)
5. City of Johannesburg.
6. Mangaung Municipality (Bloemfontein)
7. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality (Port Elizabeth)

A. District Municipality

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A district municipality is a municipality which executes some of the functions of local
government for a district. The district municipality will in turn comprise several
local municipalities, with which it shares the functions of local government.
The Constitution, section 155.1.a, defines District municipalities as the municipal
structures Act states that areas not eligible to have a metropolitan municipality must
have a district municipality.
District municipalities have a municipality code that consists of the letters "DC"
followed by a number from 1 to 48. The "DC" reflects the fact that they were
originally named "District Councils".
Currently all district municipalities in South Africa are completely divided into local
municipalities.

There are several district municipalities across South Africa

namely:

 Alfred Nzo District
 Amajuba District
 Amathole District
 Bojanala Platinum District
 Cape Winelands District
 Capricorn District
 Central Karoo District
 Chris Hani District Municipality

B. Local municipalities

Municipality. local government. Municipality, in the United States, urban unit

of local government. A municipality is a political subdivision of a state within which
a municipal corporation has been established to provide general local government
for a specific population concentration in a defined area.

The Structures Act brought about greater clarity around the functions of district
municipalities by giving them responsibility over key service delivery areas such as
water, sanitation, electricity, municipal health services and other district-
wide functions (e.g. firefighting, passenger transport, 

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There are four main types of local government:
 counties, municipalities
 special districts,
 school districts.
Question 5

Local government is the sphere of government closest to the people. Many basic
services are delivered by local municipalities and local ward councillors are the
politicians closest to communities. Organisations that seek play an activist and/or
developmental role should understand how local government works and how to
influence it.

In your own words, analyse the composition of local government

(municipal) sphere in government.

The local government is the third sphere of government which is dealt in accordance
to Chapter 7 of section 151 to 164 of the Constitution. Therefore, the Constitution
states some vital provision that may determine the local sphere of government
(municipal).
 Its states that the local sphere of government must consists of municipalities
which must be established for the whole of the territory of the republic
 Its further states that the municipality has the right to govern on its own
initiative and the local government affairs of its community, subject to national
and provincial legislation as provided in the Constitution
 The national or a provincial government may not compromise or impede a
municipality ability or the right to exercise its powers or perform its functions.

Normally the functions of the local government are to provide the democratic and
accountable government for local communities and to ensure that the provision of
services to communities in a sustainable manner and to promote social and
economic development. It also promotes a safe and healthy environment and
encourages the involvement of communities and community organizations in the
matters of local government.

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A municipality must achieve in its financial and administrative capacity to achieve the
objectives set out in the Constitution
The national and provincial spheres of government by legislative and other
measures must support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities.

Municipalities therefore consist of three categories of municipalities that have been

established in terms of the Constitution
 Category A which is mainly known as the Metropolitan. It has the exclusive
municipal executive and legislative authority in the area such as Tshwane,
eThekwini and Johannesburg.
 Category B which is mainly known as the District. It shares municipal
executive and legislative authority in its area together with Category C
Municipality within those area it falls such as Polokwane, Bela Bela and
Mogale City.
 Category C which is mainly known as the Local Municipality. It executive and
Legislative authority in an area that includes more than municipalities such as
in rural areas surroundings and urban areas like Rustenburg and Moses
Kotane local municipality.

Therefore, the National Legislation must define the different types of municipality that
may be established within each category.
A municipality has the executive authority in respect of and has the right to
administer the local government matters that are listed in the relevant schedules to
the Constitution and any other matter assigned to it by the national or provincial
legislation. It may also make by-laws that it has the right to administer.
In conclusion a municipality also has the right to exercise any power concerning a
matter reasonably necessary for, or incidental to the effective performance of its
functions (cloete, 2014)

Question 6
According to Yahiaoui, Anser and Lahouel (2015:1), they state that “efficiency of
administration is directly depending on human resources; therefore, we need to

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develop our public institutions through modernizing and improving human resource
management by building up efficiency of individuals and improving their
performance”. Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Justify your answer. In
your discussion, discuss the legislation on municipal human resource administration
and management by paying specific attention to the following aspects:
 Constitution;
 Acts of Parliament;
 Provincial Legislation.

The Legislation on municipal resource administration and management

The South African municipal government and administration municipal human
resource administration is bound by the provisions of Acts of Parliament as well as
the provincial legislation (cloete, 2014)
Constitution
According to the Constitution of South Africa, 1996 it states that the provisions in the
Bill of Rights which apply to or could affect municipal personnel administration and
management.
Therefore, according to the Labour Relations Act of the Constitution it states that
everyone has the right to a fair labour practice and that every worker also has the
right to form and join a trade union
Its further states that every trade union in which an employer falls under it has the
right to determine its own administration programmes and activities and to organise
and form a joint federation
Every trade union, employer’s organization and employer have the right to engage in
collective bargaining. The National legislation may be enacted to regulate collective
bargaining. To the extend that the legislation may limit a right in this Chapter the
limitation must comply with section 36
It is with self-evident that the provision of the Constitution had to be expanded by
appropriate legislation that is passed by the Parliament that the provincial
legislatures and municipal councils. In addition to the provisions in Chapter 7 of the
Constitution concerning local government section 195, the Constitution must contain
some values and principles in governing the public administration and thus to include

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municipal administration as well. Therefore, the sections that require public
administration to be governed by the democratic values include:
 A high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained
 Efficient, economic and effective use of resources must be promoted
 Services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias
 Public administration must be accountable
 Transparency must be fostered
 Good human resource management and career development practices, to
maximize human potential, must be cultivated.
Public administration must be broadly representative of the South African people
with the employment and personnel practices based on ability, objectivity, fairness
and the need to redress the imbalances of the past to achieve a broad
representation. (cloete, 2014)

Act of Parliament
According to the restrictions that where placed by the Supreme Constitution
Parliament may pass legislation on human resource matters in the private and public
sectors. With regards to this it should be mentioned that the democratization of
South Africa in 1994 laws of Parliament also bind the state with some few exceptions
implying that labor legislation is also enforced on the municipal sphere and national
sphere of government. Therefore, the laws which were in force when the Constitution
took effect and remained in force are dealt with below along with new legislation
applicable to the local government (cloete, 2014)
Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 305 of 1993
The act provides for compensation for employees for disabled or injured in the the
course of their employment. The fund is therefore created by the act which is
administered by the Compensation Commissioner who is an official of the
Department of labour. Therefore, Municipalities normally contribute to this fund and
their employees qualify for the relevant benefits
Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993
The Act provides for the protection of health and safety of the person at work and for
the health and safety of persons in connection with the use of plant or machinery. It

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also provides for the responsibility of employers concerning the protection of persons
other than persons at work against hazards to health and safety.
Unemployment Insurance Act 43 of 2001
Municipalities and their employees contribute to the UIF created by this Act which is
administered by the Department of Labour.
Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997
This Act regulates the conditions of services of employees and apply also to the
employees of municipalities
Organised Local Government Act 52 of 1997
This act therefore provides for the national and provincial organizations representing
the different categories of municipalities. The principal organization normally
established in term of the act SALGA which functions as a national association
representing the political structures of municipalities on bodies in other spheres such
as the National Council of Provinces and the Financial and Fiscal Commission
Skills Development Act 97 of 1998
The Act provides for a national framework to devise and implement national, sectoral
and workplaces strategies in order to develop and improve the skills of the South
African workplace
MFMA 56 of 2003
The Act provides for the appointment of chief financial officer and other personnel for
the Budget and Treasury (cloete, 2014)
Provincial legislation
The legislature of every province may pass legislation on municipal personnel affairs
as provided by the Constitution. This Act corroborates the provisions of the Municipal
System Act regarding the appointment of a chief executive officer and other
personnel. The Act therefore prescribes the powers and duties of municipal manager
as chief executive officer.
The prescribed powers include
 It acts as the head of municipal councils’ personnel and in this capacity to
exercise throaty over them so far as this may be necessary for the efficient
management and execution of the municipal council powers duties or
functions.

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  It ensures that effective and fair personnel related policies are developed and
implemented in all departments
 It encourages and maintains a good relation both in the municipal council and
with the community it serves.

The provisions of Act of Parliament and the nine provincial legislatures could serve a
general policy directive for municipal human resource administration. Therefore,
each municipality must make its own arrangement for the performance of its human
resource functions. While the Act of Parliament and provincial legislation could
direct the performance of the functions constituting human resource administration
and management and it is self-evident that the councilors, individually and
collectively cannot perform the activities involved in the establishment or
maintenance of employee corps of a municipality. (cloete, 2014)

In conclusion every municipality will usually have a human resource division to

perform the staffing functions. This division will both apply the relevant Acts of
Parliament and provincial legislature with the relevant by laws or instructions
approved by the municipal council. (cloete, 2014)

Question 7
In your own words, explain what SALGA entails and additionally, explain the
establishment, functions, national conference, National Member’s Assembly,
National Executive Committee, working groups and audit committee of SALGA.
Provide relevant examples to support your discussion. (cloete, 2014)
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA)

The Establishment of SALGA

The South African Local Government Association and the nine provincial associates
were established to give effect to the Constitution as well as the Organized Local
Government Act. It was provisionally established at the Local Government Summit
that was held in Durban November 1996. The constitution of SALGA was approved
by its conference that was held at Badplaas on 26 May 2000.

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The constitution of SALGA therefore provided an impressive document that provides
the following objectives of the institution:
 To represent and promote, also to protect the interests of local government
 Transforms the local government to enable it to fulfil its development role
 To ensure that there is full participation of women in an organized local
government
 To enhance the role and status of municipalities
 To regulate the relationships between its members and their employees within
the meaning of section 213 of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 as
amended
 To be the National Employers Organization for all municipal members
employers
 For a lawful action as may appear to be in the interest of the organization
 To borrow and invest, lend, subscribe or donate money for the furtherance of
the objectives of the organization.
For its members which are nit inconsistent with the objections or any matter specially
provided for in this constitution. (cloete, 2014)
Functions of the SALGA
The Basic functions of the SALGA is for it to take place through in various methods
and procedures for example:
 Through a meeting of the national organization initiated by the Minister of
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
 Through a meeting of the minister with provincial organisations
By a provincial organistion with the provincial government concerned or through the
national organization with any organ of state (cloete, 2014)
National Conference
The SALGAs highest decision-making body is the National Conference, which is
held every five years. The conference must be held within 90 days of the local
government elections. This meeting elects the members of the National Executive
Committee that approves the program me of action, business plan and SALGAs
budget. It also serves as an opportunity to debate local government issues (cloete,
2014)
National Members Assembly

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The NMA is the second highest decision-making body within the SALGA. It is held
annually, and it exercises authority between the National Conference. It provides a
platform for local government leaders to debate issues, coordinating the response
within the spheres of the local government, act collectively on various challenges
facing the members and to network with peers. (cloete, 2014)
National Executive Committee
The NEC is the highest decision-making body outside of the National Conference
and the National Assembly. It meets once every two months. It also develops
reviews and adopts the SALGAs administrative policies and determines SALGAs
representation o the various intergovernmental structures. It consists of the
Chairperson of SALGA, three deputy chairpersons, six additional members, the
provincial chairpersons of the association, the head of administration and no more
than three additional members. (cloete, 2014)
Working in groups
The SALGAs working groups are responsible for developing policies, strategies and
programmes to address critical municipal issues and no promote sound
intergovernmental relations. The following working groups are currently in operation:
 Economic development, planning and environment
 Social development, health and safety
 Municipal services and infrastructures
 Human resources development
 Governance, intergovernmental
 Municipal finance and corporate administration
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee of SALGA comprising five independent members was
established in terms of the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999 and the
treasury regulations. (cloete, 2014)

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References

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