South Africa become a democratic state in 1994. Since then, a sertes of policy and legislative devekopments have been introduced that that has been crucial in ternis of restructuring and transforming local govemment. The post 1994 legislative and policy framework goveming local government has been described as being "world class" and very "futuristic" ; however, despite the progress made in addressing basic development backlogs, notably housing, water, sanitation, electricity and roads which are the resultant effect of the apartheid legacy, there are stil) major challenges being experienced like inter alla, poor service delivery ; corruption ; poor financial management and lack of compliance ; lack of political and management will ; increased politicization of the municipal service ; poor skills base ; lack of monitoring and evaluation and weak intergovernmental relations. This book critiques the post 1994 local govemment dispensation and also proposes possible solutions to address the key issues highlighted. The notion of developmental local govemment has to become a reality for the majority of South Africans in ternis of improving the quality of their life at the local level.
