L'etat, C'est Moi: Why provincial Intra-governmental disputes in South Africa remain ungoverned by the final constitution and the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act - and how we can best resolve them

Abstract

For years, lawyers, jurists and academics bemoaned a great gaping hole in our law : the Final Constitution had promised to establish a legal regime to mediate and to resolve intergovernmental conflicts. (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996)("Final Constitution" or "FC"). During the first decade of post-apartheid South African life (1996 - 2005), Parliament failed to make good FC s 41(2)'s guarantee that intergovernmental disputes would be resolved by legislation that prevented different spheres of government and opposing organs of state from going to war (or court) over vital policy matters.