Municipal Structure
Organisational Structure
The overall organisational structure clearly reflects local government’s mandate — good governance, sustainable services, social and economic development, a healthy and safe environment, community participation and inclusivity.
Core Municipal Administration
The central administration comprises the city manager’s office with contract management, finance, corporate and community services functions reporting directly to the city manager. The city manager will interface with the political structures through the executive mayoral committee and the council.
Central distribution functions deliver services such as metropolitan police services, heritage services, emergency management services and planning services directly to citizens and consumers.
Central Administration
Eleven decentralized regional administrations are responsible for providing local community services such as primary health care, social services, housing, libraries and sport and recreation. By virtue of their closeness to local communities, the regional administrations are able to promote and ensure accountability and responsiveness.
The utilities providing water and sanitation, electricity and waste management services and agencies providing roads and stormwater and parks and cemeteries services are separate companies established in terms of the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. This phenomenon of ‘utility providers’ is found exclusively in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and comes at an enormous cost to ratepayers of the city.
City of Johannesburg
The Utilities, Agencies and Corporatised Entities (UAC’s), were established as autonomous companies, in terms of the Companies Act 71 of 2008.
The board has full power and authority to manage all the business and affairs of the company, except to the extent that the Companies Act or the company’s memorandum of incorporation (MOI) provides otherwise (section 66(1), Companies Act). See Corporate governance and directors’ duties in South Africa: overview Board composition and restrictions.
Overall responsibility rests with a board of directors, including executive and non-executive directors. A managing director is charged with day-to-day operational responsibility.
Directors’ duties as set out in our common law and in the Companies Act include the fiduciary duty to act in good faith and for a proper purpose in the best interests of the company and also acting with due care, skill and diligence. See more at Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA).
Below is the organogram of Pikitup Johannesburg (SOC) Ltd.
Board and Managing Director
The board and managing director are responsible for developing a business plan that specifies service, revenue, service standards, customer care improvement, safety standards, environmental protection, social and economic development and new income ideas.
The council has entered into a Service Delivery Agreement (SDA) with each of these companies to operate specific municipal services in the city.
This SDA includes the entity’s functions and obligations, service standards, five-year business plan, and performance and development targets.
The council retains the responsibility as shareholder and will receive dividends in the case of utilities or provide subsidies in the case of agencies and certain corporatized entities.
The council also “regulates” the service in terms of financial issues such as tariffs and capital expenditure, human resource issues such as skills development, delivery targets in terms of maintenance of assets and addressing backlogs and standards for customer care.
