Constitutional Court ruling regarding rights of municipalities

The Institute of Local Government Management (iLGM) has recently circulated to its membership a media summary of a ruling of the Constitutional Court on 18 June 2010 that may have far reaching implications on the autonomy of local government.

Case CCT 89/09 [2010] ZACC 11, a matter between the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Gauteng Development Tribunal and Others, resulted in the Constitutional Court delivering judgment in an application by the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (the City) for the confirmation of an order made by the Supreme Court of Appeal, in which Chapters V and VI of the Development Facilitation Act 67 of 1995 (the Act) were declared unconstitutional and thus invalid.

A copy of the full text of the media statement is available here.

The court held that the Constitution envisages a degree of autonomy for the municipal sphere, in which municipalities exercise their original constitutional powers free from undue interference from the other spheres of government. Although the case revolved around the exercise powers relating to the rezoning of land and the establishment of townships, it will be interesting to see how this impacts on the restructuring of the EDI.