ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to develop a rather different approach to the task of understanding why and how the state has initiated the current restructuring of the system of local government. The central purpose of this chapter, then, is to evaluate the new system of local government essentially in terms of social and political dynamics which are specific to the Cape Town context. The chapter argues the current restructuring of the system of local government may be understood precisely as a response to these 'political' and 'technical' issues. It presents that systems of local government which are designed at national level tend to be altered and shaped by local political forces. Conversely, a restructuring of local government will affect the matrix of interactions between institutions and organisations at the local level. Local government reform is therefore subject to specifically local determinations although it may originate at the level of central government.
