Following on from South Africa’s constitutional development process which took place in the early 1990s, the country’s constitution established a three-sphere system of government comprising local, provincial and national levels of government. This system was viewed by experts and politicians at the time as the most appropriate for South Africa, which is a large, multi-ethnic country featuring important regional differences. The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) was very engaged in the ‘Kempton Park’ process and offered special advice on experiences with decentralised systems in several countries throughout the world