Uthukela District Municipality v. The President of the Republic of South Africa
South Africa Constitutional Court
2003 (1) SA 678 (CC) (2003)
- Written by John Reeves, JD
Facts
South African law provided for three types of municipalities—Category A, Category B, and Category C. The South African constitution, furthermore, required the Parliament of South Africa to distribute funds evenly among all three types of municipalities. The Parliament of South Africa passed a bill providing funds for Category A and B municipalities, but not for Category C municipalities. Uthukela District Municipality (Uthukela) (plaintiff), a Category C municipality, brought suit against the president of the Republic of South Africa (the president) (defendant) in his capacity as the representative of the South African national government, claiming that Parliament was required to distribute funds for Category C municipalities. There was no dispute that prior to bringing the case, Uthukela had made no effort to resolve this matter with the president outside of the judicial process through a nonjudicial mechanism. The law provided for a political, nonjudicial dispute-resolution procedure before the Local Government Budget Forum (the forum). But Uthukela did not avail itself of this procedure before bringing this lawsuit.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Du Plessis, J.)
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