Regions of Johannesburg

The administration of Johannesburg was decentralised into 7 regions following the creation of the post-apartheid City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in 2000. Each region is operationally responsible for the delivery of health care, housing, sports and recreation, libraries, social development, and other local community-based services.

Each region has a People's Centre where any city-related transaction can be dealt with. Residents can lodge complaints, report service problems, and perform council-related business more quickly.

In Summer 2006, the number of regions was consolidated, from eleven, to seven [1].

After the end of apartheid allowed the consideration of the entire city of Johannesburg as one without consideration of race, it was determined that the previous structure of the city was wasteful and that there was much duplication of functions. Furthermore, some suburbs were affluent with well-established amenities while neighbouring areas lacked even the most basic of services. The new regions are presently smaller than previous mega-suburbs with each being home to about 300,000 people. The idea is that smaller regions is being able to stay in closer contact with local communities.

The regions are no longer seen as part of the core administration, but instead take on a role as contractors to the central government. The relationship is similar to that of the larger utilities and agencies, such as City Power, and is designed to maximise efficiency.

The closeness of the new regional administrations with their communities enables them to be more responsive to differing local needs. For instance, the needs of a high-income commercial centre such as Sandton will be very different from the needs of a low-income area such as Orange Farm.

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