The nine provinces of South Africa are divided into 52 districts (sing. district, tn, kgaolo; st, setereke; nso, selete; af, distrikte; zu, isifunda; nr, isiyingi; xh, isithili; ss, sigodzi; ve, tshiṱiriki; ts, xifundza), which are either metropolitan or district municipalities. They are the second level of administrative division, below the provinces and (in the case of district municipalities) above the local municipalities. As a consequence of the 12th amendment of the Constitution in December 2005, which altered provincial boundaries, the number of districts was reduced from 53. Another effect of the amendment is that each district is now completely contained within a single province, thus eliminating cross-border districts. The districts also cover the entire area of the continental republic.

Types of district

There are two types of municipality at the district level. Most of the country is covered by the 44 district municipalities, which are divided into local municipalities and share responsibilities with them. The eight largest urban agglomerations are governed by metropolitan municipalities, which act as both local and district municipalities.

District municipality

A district municipality or Category C municipality is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

which executes some of the functions of local government for a district. The district municipality will in turn comprise several local municipalities, with which it shares the functions of local government. Although the word

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

is not used in legislation, district municipalities are regularly referred to as such informally. District municipalities are seen as successors to former Regional Services Councils (RSC). The

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

, section 155.1.a, defines "Category C" municipalities. The Municipal Structures Act states that areas not eligible to have a metropolitan municipality must have a district municipality. District municipalities have a municipality code that consists of the letters "DC" followed by a number from 1 to 48. The "DC" reflects the term for the elected political executive "District Councils".

District management areas

Currently all district municipalities are completely divided into local municipalities. However, before the alteration of municipal boundaries which occurred at the

2011 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2011. * Local electoral calendar 2011 * National electoral calendar 2011 * 2011 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 2011 Beninese presidential election * 2011 Beninese parliamentary ...

, some areas of the country did not fall within any local municipality. This usually occurred in areas with a very low population density, for example national parks and

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

s. In these areas, which were known as District Management Areas, all local government services were provided by the district municipality.

List

The following map depicts the provinces and districts of South Africa. The district municipalities are labelled with numbers that correspond to their district code, while the metropolitan municipalities are labelled with letters that correspond to their names. Further details of the districts are listed in the table that follows the image.

Boundary alignment

Several projects are underway to align various services with the district boundaries. These include: * Magisterial districts * Police wards

Controversy

South Africa's official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, believes that the districts add an unnecessary fourth layer of government (between

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

and municipalities) and has called for them to be eliminated.

References

Sources

Demarcation Board
* Government Communication & Information Services (2005
Categories of municipalities
* Parliament of the Republic of South Africa (1996
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Chapter 7: Local Government
* Parliament of the Republic of South Africa (1998
Local Government: Municipal Structures Act
Act 117 of 1998.
South African Local Government Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Districts Of South Africa Subdivisions of South Africa Lists of subdivisions of South Africa South Africa 2 Districts, South Africa