South Africa votes in the local government elections on Wednesday 4 November 2026. Once a council has been declared elected, the municipal manager must call its first meeting within 14 days (section 29(2) of the Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998). At that first sitting the council elects its speaker (section 36(2)), and the mayor or executive committee follows.
There is a quieter job that the law attaches to the same event. Section 59(2)(f) of the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 says that a delegation or instruction “must be reviewed when a new council is elected”. It is easy to miss in the weeks after an election, and it decides who may lawfully take most of the municipality’s day-to-day decisions for the next five years.
One · What the system of delegation is
Section 59(1) requires every municipal council to develop a system of delegation that will “maximise administrative and operational efficiency and provide for adequate checks and balances”. Under that system the council may delegate appropriate powers to its other political structures, political office bearers, councillors or staff members, instruct any of them to perform the municipality’s duties, and withdraw a delegation or instruction.
In practice the system is the document that says which decisions stay with the council and which sit with the mayor, the committees and the municipal manager.
Two · What may not be delegated
Some powers never leave the council. Section 160(2) of the Constitution lists four functions that a municipal council may not delegate: passing by-laws, approving budgets, imposing rates and other taxes, levies and duties, and raising loans.
Section 59(1)(a) of the Systems Act adds three more: the power to set tariffs, the decision to enter into a service delivery agreement in terms of section 76(b), and the approval or amendment of the integrated development plan.
Section 60 then restricts where certain powers may go. Decisions to expropriate immovable property, and decisions on the remuneration and conditions of service of the municipal manager and the managers directly responsible to the municipal manager, may be delegated only to an executive committee or executive mayor. Decisions on investments may be delegated only to the municipal manager, within the municipality’s investment policy.
Three · What every delegation must satisfy
Section 59(2) sets the conditions. A delegation or instruction must not conflict with the Constitution, the Systems Act or the Structures Act. It must be in writing. It is subject to any limitations, conditions and directions the council imposes. It may include the power to sub-delegate. And it does not divest the council of responsibility for the exercise of the power.
Section 59(4) adds a rule that is often overlooked: a delegation or sub-delegation to a staff member of a power conferred on the municipal manager must be approved by the council, in accordance with the system of delegation.
Four · Who starts the review
Section 65 gives the job to the municipal manager. Whenever a review becomes necessary under section 59(2)(f), the municipal manager must submit to the council a report on the existing delegations issued by the council and by the municipality’s other delegating authorities, together with recommendations on any changes he or she considers necessary. Where the municipality has an executive committee or executive mayor, the report goes to the council through them.
The Act does not fix a deadline for the review. It ties the review to the election of the new council, so the sensible time is early in the term, before the first large decisions have to be taken under delegations nobody has looked at since the previous election.
Five · Questions for the review
A review is not the same as a rewrite. Five questions usually show where the work is.
Is there one current document? Delegations tend to pile up in council resolutions over a five-year term. The report under section 65 is the moment to bring them into one consolidated text, each with the resolution that made it.
May each power be delegated at all? Test every item against section 160(2) of the Constitution and sections 59(1)(a) and 60 of the Systems Act.
Do the offices and committees still exist? A new council may restructure its committees and portfolios. A delegation to a committee that is no longer there leaves the power with nobody.
Are the limits written down? Financial thresholds, conditions and reporting intervals belong in the delegation itself. Section 63 requires a delegate to report to the delegating authority at the intervals that authority requires.
Are the sub-delegations on record? Each one should be in writing, and those that pass a municipal manager’s power to a staff member need the council’s approval under section 59(4).
Where no party holds a majority, the review matters even more. It is far easier to agree who decides what at the start of a term than in the middle of a dispute.
Changing a delegation does not undo what was properly done under it. Section 64 says that the withdrawal, amendment or lapsing of a delegation does not invalidate anything done as a consequence of a decision taken in terms of that delegation.
MBM Valkyrie Advisory drafts and reviews systems of delegation, delegation frameworks, rules and by-laws for municipalities, municipal entities and other public bodies.
Start a conversationFor companies and boards, see Delegations of authority: who may actually sign, and how to prove it.
Sources: Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, section 160(2); Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000, sections 59, 60, 63, 64 and 65; Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998, sections 29(2) and 36(2), all as published on LawLibrary (lawlibrary.org.za) and read on 2 October 2026. Election date of 4 November 2026 as announced by the President and reported by SAnews on 27 May 2026. This piece is general commentary. It is not legal advice on any specific matter, and no professional relationship arises from reading it.