Cape Town repeals 213 'outdated bylaws' from former municipalities

The City of Cape Town has announced that bylaws adopted by former municipalities, in what is now the City of Cape Town metro, have been repealed.

Before 1996, the City of Cape Town consisted of 30 separate small municipalities, which were amalgamated into the six larger municipalities of Helderberg, Tygerberg, Blaauwberg, South Peninsula, Oostenberg and the City of Cape Town.

In 2000, the six larger municipalities were dissolved to establish the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality as we know it today.

All the former municipalities adopted bylaws applicable to their area of jurisdiction, meaning that there were different bylaws applicable in different parts of Cape Town.

The City on Wednesday announced that the Bylaw on the Repeal of Bylaws that were Adopted by Former Municipalities was published in the Provincial Gazette.

"The City of Cape Town has adopted a bylaw to repeal and replace these older bylaws. Some of the old bylaws repealed through this process date back to the 1890s. Also, some of these bylaws addressed matters that are no longer applicable, or fall outside of local government’s mandate, for example radio antennas, traditional beer and guns, firearms and explosions," the City said. 

City Manager, Lungelo Mbandazayo, said: "This is the third and final bylaw of its kind. It took many years of thorough research to complete the investigation of all of the bylaws adopted over a period of more than 110 years by former municipalities that now make up the City of Cape Town." 

Prior to this latest promulgation, two bylaws repealed bylaws adopted by the former municipalities:

·       The Repeal Bylaw of 2007 repealed 514 outdated bylaws

·       The Repeal Bylaw of 2016 repealed 302 outdated bylaws

 "With the third Repeal Bylaw of 2025 we have repealed another 213 outdated bylaws. This process is now complete, and we can safely say there is not a single outdated or unconstitutional bylaw left on our books," said Mbandazayo.

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