Legal Services

LEGAL SERVICES:

Legal services is for strategic reasons located within the office of the Municipal Manager.

The duties and responsibilities of Legal Services include, but are not limited to:

• Provide accurate, comprehensive, effective, timeous and professional legal advice and services to the District Municipality as well as to provide input during meetings of Council and the Mayoral Committee;
• Provide legal direction and support to the administration and the political leadership to ensure that decision-making in the District Municipality is legally compliant;
• Provide legal advice in the formulation of by-laws, policies and procedures to ensure that the municipality complies with all relevant legislation as well as its Constitutional mandate;
• Manage the legal risk function within the organization;
• Provide legal and administrative support in respect of all property matters;
• Co-operate with other spheres of government in developing sound working relations and minimise areas of dispute or potential dispute in the legal context.
• Ensure legal compliance to ensure that the District Municipality operates within legislative parameters and regulations.
• Assist with the drafting of Council by-laws, policies and procedures within the relevant legal framework through the policy direction of Council;

• Contract management (draft, peruse, review or amend SLA’s, agreements, declarations, resolutions, other legal documents etc.);

• Giving effect to the constitutional right to access to information as required by the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No 2 of 2000)
• Giving effect to the constitutional right to the protection of personal information as required by the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No 4 of 2013)
• Manage the flow of legal communication, advice, opinions, contracts and other legal documentation form and to the District Municipality;
• Undertake research in order to compile and submit legal opinions and advice to the District Municipality as a whole;
• Monitor ongoing litigation by and against the District Municipality and co-ordinating interaction between the Departments and external legal practitioners engaged by the District Municipality;
• Updating the Rules of Order of the District Municipality as well as the System of Delegations;
• Keep abreast with the latest legislation and legislative changes, court rulings, circulars and legal articles and commenting thereon;
• Enhance organisational efficiency by establishing a corporate governance compliant environment that enables the municipality to achieve its objectives.