Synopsis:
Entitlement of national, provincial and local sphere of government to equitable share of revenue raised nationally. In terms of s 5(1) of the Division of Revenue Act district municipalities were excluded. The impugned section had been repealed by the time the case came to this Court. Du Plessis AJ in a unanimous decision explained that when an Act is declared unconstitutional by the High Court, but then later repealed before hearing before this Court, the Court will not deal with the issue if any order will have no practical effect on the parties. If dispute can be dealt with on a political level and parties are organs of state, the Court will be hesitant to intervene. Here, there would have been a practical effect, but because the parties were organs of state, the Court found there needed to be reasonable efforts made to settle dispute at the political level.
