Multi-Sphere Governance in South Africa: An Interim Assessment

After considerable debate about whether a democratic South Africa should be constituted on federal lines, the 1996 Constitution adopted three “distinctive, interdependent and interrelated” spheres of government. “Co-operative government” followed the German model, emphasizing concurrency, provincial delivery of national policies, and provincial representation at the center. Implementing this model, with new institutions, actors, and processes, has proved difficult because the governing party strongly favors a relatively centralized polity, and because provinces and local governments have weak political, administrative, and fiscal capacities. The analysis concludes that while the new system has become fairly well established in a short time, its long-term success in promoting the values of democratization, effective governance, and conflict management remains uncertain. Copyright , Oxford University Press.