The “shield”: the South African Constitutional Court as safe harbour for local government land planning

Recently, the South African Constitutional Court delivered a relevant judgement in matter of local government competence vis a vis with central legislation. Once again, the Constitutional Court shielded municipalities competence in land management and planning. The case involved the central legislation related to telecommunications network and facilities in disregard of municipal bylaws in land planning. The Court protected the competence in zooning schemes and planning of local government from “interferences” from higher level of government but asked both levels to rely more on the principle of cooperative government.