Browsing by Author "Ayele, Zemelak"
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Item Intergovernmental fiscal relations in South Africa and the role of the Financial and Fiscal Commission: A 20 year review(Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape, 2014-07) de Visser, Jaap; Ayele, ZemelakThe Finance and Fiscal Commission is government’s primary advisor with regard to intergovernmental fiscal relations. Its constitutional entrenchment and establishment in 1994 signalled that the post‐apartheid government took serious the commonly held wisdom that national decisions on intergovernmental fiscal matters must be discussed between governments, that they must be evidence‐based and that intergovernmental fiscal relations must be reasonably predictable. This paper reviews the history of the Commission to mark its 20th Anniversary. The paper combines a thematic and a chronological approach. It contains a narrative of the development of the Commission since its establishment, which traces the development of the Commission from its conceptualisation and inception to the most recent initiatives and policy debates. It rekindles some of the debates that surrounded the inclusion of the Commission in the Constitution and the policy process that underpinned the Financial and Fiscal Commission Act of 1997 and assesses how this role unfolded in the subsequent years. Throughout this narrative, three dimensions are addressed. The first relates to the location of the Commission in the intergovernmental system, in other words the relationships between the Commission and the various component parts of the South African multilevel government system. The second dimension is concerned with the impact that the Commission has made on decision making in the realm of intergovernmental fiscal relations. Was the Commission taken seriously? To what extend did its recommendations influence government policy? The third theme examines the Commission as an institution and assesses its governance and administrative performance, given the importance of these themes in asserting the Commission’s enduring relevance and impact. In examining these themes, comparisons with comparable multilevel government systems are made as and when relevant. The authors reviewed a range of current and historic document, including annual reports, submissions, discussion documents and selected academic literature. In addition, ten indepth interviews were conducted with current commissioners, past commissioners, Commission staff, officials representing (organised) local government, Parliament and provincial government.Item The Judiciary in Federal Systems in Africa(Perspectives on Federalism, 2020) Steytler, Nico; Ayele, ZemelakEight states in Africa that have federal or federal-type government systems and most of these federations emerged in the post-Cold War period. The African federations are in various degrees characterised by a limited extent of self-rule and the concentration of power at the centre. The question this article addresses is whether, and if so, how, the federal character of the state organisation impacts on the administration of justice. In other words, is the judicial branch of government also part of the federal arrangements, and if so, how has that been manifested? Four sub-questions are posed in this regard. First, does the structure of the judicial institutions also follow the vertical division of powers between the central and subnational governments? Secondly, given the non-centrist or centrist structure of the courts, how are judges appointed? Thirdly, as language and ethnic diversity are often the key reasons for the establishment of federal arrangements, how is the language question dealt within in the administration of justice? Finally, what role have the courts played in realisation of the federal character of the state?Item The law and politics of internal secession: The Ethiopian experience in comparative perspective(Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2021) Fessha, Yonatan; Ayele, ZemelakAlthough secession has been the subject of much scholarly work, the focus has largely been on the external dimension of secession, the decision of a territory to leave an existing state and establish itself as independent state. Little attention has been provided to the less radical solution of internal secession, the right of a community or territory to secede from a subnational unit and establish its own unit. The Ethiopian constitution is probably the only constitution that provides for internal secession as a constitutional right. It also provides for a procedure according to which the right to internal secession can be exercised. Focusing on the Ethiopian experience, this chapter discusses the law and politics of internal secession in a comparative perspective. It examines the grounds that may justify internal secession and the procedure that must govern a request for internal secession.Item Letting the numbers speak: Census 2011(Local Government Bulletin, 2012) Ayele, ZemelakThe South African Statistics Council has released the much-anticipated Census 2011 results. Its report provides relevant and timely information on a wide range of matters. This article focuses on those results that relate to the quality of, and access to, basic municipal services, as well as the accessibility of some non-municipal, yet basic services, such as housing.Item Local government in Ethiopia: still an apparatus of control?(University of the Western Cape, 2011) Ayele, ZemelakHistorically, local authorities in Ethiopia enjoyed wide political, administrative, judicial, and financial autonomy. However, from the 1850s a process of territorial expansion and centralisation was initiated in the country. The centralisation process reached its zenith under the rule of Colonel Mengistu in the 1980s. This centralisation gradually diminished the autonomy of local authorities which incrementally became structures of control of the central government. Local authorities were used to actively suppress resistance against the central government, extract revenue in the form of tax and tribute, mobilise free labour, and even act as agents to conscript for the army. This policy and practice continued until Colonel Mengistu was ousted by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1991. Soon after seizing power, the EPRDF declared its intention to reverse the century-long centralised rule and introduced a semi-federal structure in the country in 1991. Ethiopia officially became a federal country in 1995 following the promulgation of a new Constitution. In 2001 a local level decentralisation programme was initiated. The decentralisation programme included the establishment of elected local government structures and the devolution of certain political, administrative and financial powers to local government. This paper seeks to demonstrate how local authorities were used as a means of control in the past. While a decentralised system of governance has formally been introduced in Ethiopia, this paper argues that local authorities still remain instruments of political control by the central government. In so doing it highlights the factors that continue the trend of central control of local government despite extensive formal decentralisation.Item The (mis)management of ethno-linguistic diversity in Ethiopian cities(Taylor & Francis, 2017) Ayele, Zemelak; de Visser, JaapEthiopia has an ethnic federal system that is based on the assumption that the ethnolinguistic communities of the country are located in neatly defined, or definable, territorial areas. On the basis of this assumption the federal system aspires to accommodate the ethnic diversity of the Ethiopian people through, principally, if not exclusively, territorial schemes. This assumption is, however, incorrect as far as urban areas are concerned which, despite being territorially enclosed within one of the ethnic-based regions or sub-regional units, have thousands of multi-ethnic dwellers. The territorial scheme thus fails to cater to a large contingent of multi-ethnic urban dwellers.Item The (mis)management of ethnolinguistic diversity in Ethiopian cities(Taylor & Francis, 2016) Ayele, Zemelak; de Visser, JaapEthiopia has an ethnic federal system that is based on the assumption that the ethnolinguistic communities of the country are located in neatly defined, or definable, territorial areas. On the basis of this assumption the federal system aspires to accommodate the ethnic diversity of the Ethiopian people through, principally, if not exclusively, territorial schemes. This assumption is, however, incorrect as far as urban areas are concerned which, despite being territorially enclosed within one of the ethnic-based regions or sub-regional units, have thousands of multiethnic dwellers. The territorial scheme thus fails to cater to a large contingent of multiethnic urban dwellers.