The upliftment of South African local government?

Theoretically, South Africa has one of the most advanced systems of local g overnment in the world with its powers and functions being constitutionally entrenched. Two different conceptual models of local government were used to assess how autonomous this local government system is in practice. The a utonomous model views local government as a clearly separated sphere of gov ernment, while the integrational model sees greater functional interdepende nce between the various spheres of government. The article concludes that t here are different views of decentralisation within the state. On the one h and there are local government reform measures by the state to position its elf within the global economy that reflects a more integrational view of lo cal government. On the other hand there are elements of the autonomous mode l such as attempts to empower local government through the promotion of loc al democracy.