charges on interest, and redemption of loans. Thus, though these functions
generated income of R 28 billion in 2003/04, for example, they also incurred
bulk costs of about R 15.4 billion.Under the leadership of the National Treasury,
and guided by the MFMA, municipal accounting systems are being
reformed to help address these information shortcomings. The national government
has also been working with the local sphere to address the high level
of water and electricity losses in many local areas.
The Structure and Administration of Local Government
This section discusses the categories and tiers of local government and the
political and administrative structures.
Categories and Tiers
South Africa’s 283 municipalities (284 until February 28, 2006) were created
through the comprehensive two-year process of demarcation mentioned
earlier. The Municipal Structures Act contains criteria for the categorization
of municipalities: