Abstract:
The objectives of this article are to locate the size of South Africa’s metropolitan
and local municipalities within an international context; to examine whether local
government size has been a factor affecting the performance of local governments
and to analyse how South Africa has situated itself within the efficiency–local
democracy debate. A number of indicators were used in respect of the different
population and geographical sizes of municipalities. The Municipal Demarcation
Board created a number of metropolitan and local municipalities which were
bigger than its own guidelines. A major reason for this was the belief that larger
municipalities are more efficient, promote financial viability and can promote
equity. The findings were that larger municipalities do perform better than smaller
municipalities, but this is not a consistent trend. There is some evidence that bigger
municipalities have led to remoteness. The available evidence suggests that the
creation of larger municipalities has not necessarily led to greater efficiency nor
has it promoted local democracy.
