Johannesburg does not suffer from a shortage of rules. But a residential house turned into a 20-person commune in Yeoville, a restaurant in Melville converted into an illegal nightclub, and vendors at traffic lights just about everywhere suggest that, for many, the rules are merely suggestions.
The city has an extensive collection of by-laws governing everything from noise and street trading to building regulations and land use. On paper, they provide the framework for an orderly, functional municipality.
In practice, too many are ignored, inconsistently enforced, or so hard to find that residents have little hope of knowing their rights and obligations when they face an issue.
Consider the noisy nightclub that keeps an entire neighbourhood awake, or the woman selling dog beds outside a local park.
Both are subject to municipal regulations. But ask the average Johannesburg resident where to find the relevant by-law, or how to report an infringement, and you are more likely to receive an expletive than a useful answer.
That is hardly surprising. When rules go unenforced, they stop functioning as rules. They become suggestions, and Johannesburg has become a city where compliance often appears optional.
The informal trading mess
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the city's approach to informal trading.
The Development Planning Department and Customer Relations and Urban Management (CRUM) structures are meant to identify designated trading areas, facilitate permits, and ensure traders have access to basic services, including waste collection and sanitation. Trading should also take place without obstructing roads, pavements, or other public functions.
Yet if you walked down De Villiers Street in the CBD just a few weeks ago, a very different picture emerged. Public spaces had effectively been appropriated for trading, while enforcement remained sporadic and reactive, often taking the form of confiscated goods or fines.
The irony is difficult to miss. Just a block away, a PRASA-owned trading facility stands empty because the city has failed to allocate the licences needed for traders to occupy it.
Instead of creating an organised and accessible trading environment, the city has allowed administrative delays and inconsistent enforcement to fuel conflict. The courts have already intervened in disputes over the removal of traders.
This is not evidence that Johannesburg needs another set of regulations. It is evidence that the city is failing to administer the ones it already has.
Illegal buildings, real consequences
The same dysfunction is evident in building control, where the consequences extend far beyond an untidy streetscape.
Urban planning depends on reliable information. Decisions about when to build a new reservoir, upgrade electricity infrastructure or expand a road are informed by how land is used and how many people an area is expected to accommodate.
A property originally designed for a family of four does not place the same demands on municipal infrastructure as a student commune with 10 bedrooms. Nor does a residential property converted into a mixed-use development with restaurants and apartments.
These changes require planning approvals for good reason. They affect water consumption, sanitation, electricity demand, traffic, and the capacity of surrounding infrastructure.
When developments proceed illegally, the city loses the ability to plan properly. Existing services are placed under additional pressure, while law-abiding property owners are left wondering why they bothered following the rules.
The City's enforcement processes provide for inspections, stop-work notices, and financial penalties, with court action available where necessary. In certain circumstances, punitive property rates can reportedly reach 12 times the ordinary rate.
But penalties alone are not enough. Where cases fail to progress to effective legal enforcement, unlawful developments can continue operating.
If an owner can collect rent from 20 additional tenants and generate enough income to absorb the penalties, those penalties simply become another operating expense. Breaking the rules becomes a business calculation.
And the infrastructure bill is ultimately paid by everyone else.
Not every by-law deserves to survive
Of course, not every regulation is sensible, necessary, or proportionate.
Johannesburg has had its share of regulatory overreach. Proposals to regulate privately owned CCTV cameras drew public opposition and were eventually abandoned. The contentious requirements around registering residential solar installations have also raised legitimate questions about how far municipal regulation should extend.
These examples demonstrate why existing by-laws must be regularly reviewed, tested against the public interest, and amended or repealed where they are impractical, outdated, or unnecessarily intrusive.
A functioning city should not regulate for the sake of regulation. Rules must serve a clear public purpose, be legally sound, and be capable of fair and consistent enforcement.
But questionable regulations are the exception, not an excuse to abandon enforcement altogether.
There is a fundamental difference between challenging a bad rule and simply refusing to implement a necessary one.
A law nobody can find is a law nobody can follow
There is another problem Johannesburg must confront: access.
Residents should not need legal training, an afternoon to spare, and considerable patience to find out what municipal regulations apply to their homes, businesses, or neighbourhoods.
Every current by-law should be available through a single, clearly organised and searchable online portal. The city should publish the latest consolidated versions, identify amendments, and explain in plain language what each regulation means.
Just as importantly, residents should be able to find clear instructions on how to report infringements, which department is responsible, and what happens after a complaint is lodged.
Public accessibility is not an administrative luxury. It is a basic requirement of accountable government.
If the city expects residents to comply with its regulations, the least it can do is make those regulations easy to find and understand.
Enforcement also makes financial sense
There is a financial dimension to this failure that Johannesburg can no longer afford to ignore.
Properly administered by-laws and land-use regulations support municipal revenue collection. Parking enforcement, lawful zoning changes, correct property categorisation, and the application of appropriate tariffs all contribute to a municipality's ability to fund services.
Fines should never become a substitute for good governance or an excuse for revenue-driven policing. Their primary purpose should be to encourage compliance.
But allowing widespread non-compliance has consequences. When illegal land uses go unchecked, or properties are not correctly classified, the city risks losing revenue it is legally entitled to collect.
In a municipality under severe financial pressure, effective administration and consistent enforcement should be among the most basic priorities.
The missing ingredient is political will
Ultimately, Johannesburg's problem is not primarily legislative. It is administrative and political.
The rules exist. The departments exist. The enforcement structures exist. What is missing is the determination to make the system work consistently, transparently, and without favour.
It is much like using a mobile phone while driving. Most motorists know they should not do it. But if there is little prospect of being stopped or fined, some will take their chances.
Municipal governance operates on the same principle. If residents, businesses, and property developers believe there are no meaningful consequences for breaking the rules, compliance becomes a matter of personal choice.
Johannesburg cannot function on that basis.
Following the local government elections, the next administration should resist the temptation to announce yet another sweeping regulatory overhaul before dealing with the failures already in front of it.
What Johannesburg needs is a practical three-part response: enforce existing by-laws consistently, review and remove regulations that no longer serve the public interest, and make every current by-law readily accessible to residents.
Johannesburg has spent enough time writing the rulebook. It is time to start using it.
Julia Fish is Executive Director of JoburgCAN