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Metropolitan municipality (South Africa)

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In South Africa, a metropolitan municipality or metro, is a municipality which executes all the functions of local government for a city or conurbation. This is in contrast to areas which are primarily rural, where the local government is divided into district municipalities and local municipalities. [1]

Contents

There are a total of eight metros located in five of South Africa's nine provinces. The seats of some metros serve as provincial capitals, namely Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Bloemfontein. Three of SA's metros serve as the joint capitals of South Africa - Cape Town, Pretoria, and Bloemfontein. [2]

History

Metropolitan municipalities were brought about during reforms of the 1990s so that cities could be governed as single entities. [3] For example, eThekwini (including Durban) is today a single municipality formed from what were more than 40 separate jurisdictions before 1994. [4]

This reform process was a response to the way in which apartheid policy had broken up municipal governance. For example, Soweto had, until 1973, been administered by the Johannesburg City Council, but after 1973 was run by an Administration Board separate from the city council. This arrangement deprived Soweto of vital subsidies that it had been receiving from Johannesburg. [5] A key demand of anti-apartheid civics in the 1980s was for 'one city, one tax base' in order to facilitate the equitable distribution of funds within what was a functionally integrated urban space. [6]

Local government reform after apartheid produced six Transitional Metropolitan Councils following the 1995/6 local government elections. These were characterized by a two-tier structure. [7] [8] From 2000, these six Metropolitan Councils were restructured into their final single-tier form. In 2011, Buffalo City (including East London) and Mangaung (including Bloemfontein) were added to the category of metropolitan municipality. [9]

Authority

As per the Constitution of South Africa, municipalities have the right to manage, on their own initiative, the local government affairs of their communities. While national and provincial governments may supervise the functioning of local government, this must be done without encroaching on the institutional integrity of local government. The Constitution further allocates the functional areas of local government competency in Schedules 4B and 5B. [10]

Metros operate via councils of elected officials, via local elections mandated to take place every five years. Each council manages its own municipal budget. [2]

A metropolitan municipality has exclusive municipal executive and legislative authority in its area. [10] Metro councils are permitted to decentralize their powers and functions. However, all original municipal, legislative, and executive powers are vested in the council. In metropolitan areas, there is a choice of the type of executive system used. The mayoral executive system vests executive authority in the mayor, whereas the collective executive committee system vests powers in the executive committee. [2]

Establishment

Section 155.1.a of the Constitution of South Africa established "Category A municipalities" as those which execute all the functions of local government for a city, and that have sufficient resources to perform municipal functions. [1] [11] In the Municipal Structures Act (MSA) it is laid out that this type of local government is to be used for conurbations, "centre[s] of economic activity", areas "for which integrated development planning is desirable", and areas with "strong interdependent social and economic linkages". [12]

Category-A municipalities can only be established in metropolitan areas. A metro is created by notice of its respective provincial government, and only if that provincial government allows the creation of such.

List of metropolitan municipalities

The table below lists the eight South African metropolitan municipalities, as of February 2026. [2] [13]

NameCodeProvinceSeatArea
(km2) [14] 		Population
(2022) [15] 		Pop. density
(per km2)
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality BUF Eastern Cape East London 2,750975,255354
City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality CPT Western Cape Cape Town 2,4464,772,8641,956
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality JHB Gauteng Johannesburg 1,6454,803,2622,924
City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality TSH Gauteng Pretoria 6,2984,040,315642
City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality [16] EKU Gauteng Germiston 1,9754,066,6912,058
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality ETH KwaZulu-Natal Durban 2,5564,239,9011,659
Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality MAN Free State Bloemfontein 9,886811,43182
Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality NMA Eastern Cape Gqeberha 1,9571,190,496608

Good governance

Average across metros

In recent years, metro governance has, on average, not been of a high quality, with some metro regions, such as the City of Johannesburg and eThekwini (where Durban is the seat) receiving criticism for failing infrastructure and mismanagement across multiple consecutive years. Johannesburg and Tshwane (where Pretoria is the seat) have had numerous consecutive years of political instability and failed coalitions, which have hampered municipal performance, economic growth, and general progress. [17]

Cape Town's anomalous performance

The City of Cape Town stands in contrast to other metros. The city has for many years, across multiple ratings systems and metrics, been regarded as exceptionally well managed, and as South Africa's best-run metro. As of October 2025, Cape Town is the only metropolitan municipality considered financially sustainable, with no other metro coming close to matching the city's financial performance, according to Ratings Afrika. [18]

In 2022's Ratings Afrika Municipal Financial Sustainability Index, the City of Cape Town an operating surplus of R1.8 billion and cash reserves of R9.4 billion that could be utilized for infrastructure development and/or as a financial contingency. The index includes six financial components; operating performance, liquidity management, debt governance, budget practices, affordability, and infrastructure development. That year, Cape Town scored 66% higher than the average of all the metros. [19]

In 2024, 15 out of the 20 top-performing municipalities were located in the Western Cape province, of which Cape Town, as a metro region, is the capital. Cape Town has for numerous consecutive years been the only metro municipality to receive a clean audit. Audit reports such as the Good Governance Africa (GGA) Governance Performance Index (GPI) consider factors including administration and governance; economic development; leadership and management; planning, monitoring, and evaluation; and service delivery (the latter of which has the strongest weighting in the ranking system). In the 2024 GPI, the City of Cape Town was the top-ranked metro. [20]

In 2025, the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) honored Cape Town as the Best Metropolitan Municipality. The convention's Municipal Performance Awards considered performance, innovation, and service delivery. [21] [22]

Political correlation

The Democratic Alliance, South Africa's second-largest political party and one that roots its ideology in good governance, has (as of 2026) managed the City of Cape Town for a continuous period of 26 years, as well as the Western Cape for a continuous period of 12 years. Thus, the party has for a significant period, been at the helm of the country's best-run city and best-managed province. [23]

In September 2025, South African President and ANC Leader Cyril Ramaphosa said at a rally that South Africa’s best-run municipalities are those governed by the Democratic Alliance. He also stated that his own party should have no shame in traveling to the Western Cape to learn from the successes of municipalities like the City of Cape Town and Stellenbosch. [24]

Housing

As of 2021, approximately 60% of South Africa's 6.74 million residential properties were located in one of the country's eight metro areas. [25]

At the time, most government-subsidized housing was situated in Gauteng, however in terms of the ratio of such housing, the Northern Cape, followed by the Free State, contained the highest percentage. Most low-cost (under R600,000) and mid-market (R600,000 to R1.5 million) housing was situated in Gauteng. [25]

Meanwhile, most high-value (upmarket) homes, worth over R1.5 million, were located in the Western Cape. [25] Cape Town, the capital of the Western Cape, is widely known to have South Africa's most robust property market. The city's residential property market has been ranked as the second-strongest-performing in the world. [26]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Lukishi Jacob Mamaile (9 December 2013). "The functioning of the information technology internal audit departments at metropolitan municipalities in South Africa". UJContent. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Local government". The Government of South Africa. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  3. ↑ Mabin, Alan (2006) Local government in South Africa's larger cities. In U. Pillay, R. Tomlinson, & J. du Toit (Eds.) Democracy and delivery: urban policy in South Africa (pp. 135-156). Cape Town: HSRC.
  4. ↑ Freund, Bill (1 August 2010). "Is There Such a Thing as a Post-apartheid City?" . Urban Forum. 21 (3): 283–298. doi:10.1007/s12132-010-9087-4. hdl: 10419/54074 . ISSN   1874-6330. S2CID   154026546.
  5. ↑ Parnell, Susan and Gordon Pirie (1991) Johannesburg. In Anthony Lemon (eds) Homes apart: South Africa's segregated cities. Bloomington: Indiana University Press pp 129-145
  6. ↑ Mark Swilling, Richard Humphries and Khehal Shubane (eds) Apartheid city in Transition. Cape Town: Oxford University Press
  7. ↑ van Donk, Mirjam and Edgar Pieterse (2006) 'Reflections on the design of a post-apartheid system of (urban) local government' in Udesh Pillay; Richard Tomlinson; Jacques du Toit (eds.) Democracy and Delivery: Urban Policy in South Africa. Cape Town HSRC Press
  8. ↑ Cameron, Robert (2006) Local government boundary reorganization. In Udesh Pillay, Richard Tomlinson, Jacques du Toit (eds.) Democracy and Delivery: Urban Policy in South Africa. Cape Town HSRC Press pp 76-106
  9. ↑ Lynelle John; Landiwe Mahlangu (21 June 2011). "Metros in SA: Debate on national policy choices". Mail and Guardian . Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  10. 1 2 "About Municipalities". SALGA. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  11. ↑ "Welcome to the official South African government online site! - South African Government". Info.gov.za. Archived from the original on 5 January 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  12. ↑ "Welcome to the official South African government online site! - South African Government". Info.gov.za. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  13. ↑ "Metropolitan Municipalities". Yes Media. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  14. ↑ "Shapefiles Statistics". Demarcation.org.za. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  15. ↑ "South Africa: Administrative Division (Provinces and Municipalities) - Population Statistics, Charts and Map". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  16. ↑ "Amendment of Notice Establishing the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (Notice No. 3585 OF 2005)". Ekurhuleni.gov.za. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  17. ↑ "The State Of South Africa's Municipalities Revealed In 2024 GPI". Corruption Watch. 30 May 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  18. ↑ Malcolm Libera (11 October 2025). "The best-run municipality in South Africa with a consistent track record of 14 years". BusinessTech. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  19. ↑ "Cape Town and four other Western Cape municipalities are SA's top performers". Polity. 26 May 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  20. ↑ "SA's Best and Worst Performing Municipalities 2024". SMART Procurement. 5 June 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  21. ↑ Neale Petersen (6 October 2025). "Western Cape sweeps SAPOA Municipal Awards - Cape Town Best Metro". Real Estate Investor. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  22. ↑ Tertuis Simmers (3 October 2025). "DA Western Cape proudly recognises municipalities winning best-run municipal awards". The Democratic Alliance. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  23. ↑ Lunga Mzangwe (15 September 2025). "DA governs the best-run municipalities, Ramaphosa tells ANC councillors". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  24. 1 2 3 "National Housing Market Report, 2021" (PDF). CAHF. January 2025. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  25. ↑ "Cape Town residential property market ranked world's second top-performing market". Bizcommunity.com. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2025.

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