The local government sphere with its growing scope of government functions and a structurally declining institutional capacity provides an opportunity for a considered inquest into the practice of intergovernmental relations (IGR) as an interactive and transactive process (see Local Government Report 2010). For the purposes of this article, interactive refers to the activities that have not yet been contracted between spheres of government and yet have an impact on how governments will react to their outcomes, whereas transactive is concerned with a codified obligation to transact according to a defined contractual process. The legally binding integrated development planning (IDP) process by municipalities creates for this inquiry a context in which the various in-government relations occur. This article explores the interactive and transactive nature of intergovernmental relations from a local government perspective. A model that ex