| Abstract |
The central purpose of this paper is to assess whether the South African intergovernmental fiscal relations system enables provinces to achieve preference matching, efficiency and accountability. In the final analysis the paper contests that the system does not enable preference matching because of centralized policy making, provincial over reliance on national transfers to finance their expenditures and the fact that the system was not necessarily crafted for purposes of preference matching but national unity and the need to address the imbalances of the past. |