VAN DER WESTHUIZEN J [52] The City disagrees and submits that merely because one municipality has more resources than another does not permit it to deploy those resources, because municipalities‘ role in the sphere of housing is secondary and cannot usurp the primary obligations of the provincial and national spheres of government.54 [53] Chapter 12 must be interpreted in light of the relevant constitutional and statutory framework of which it is a part.55 For example, section 9 of the Housing Act requires municipalities to take all reasonable and necessary steps to ensure access to adequate housing. Sections 4(1) and 8(2) of the Municipal Systems Act empower municipalities with a degree of general, financial and institutional autonomy to carry out their functions, and section 4(2) places the duty on them to provide for the democratic governance and efficient provision of services to their communities.56 Section 4(2)(j) requires them to ―contribute, together with other organs to state, to the progressive realisation of the fundamental rights contained in sections 24, 25, 26, 27 and 29 of the Constitution.‖ It would hardly be possible for the City to carry out its constitutional and legislative obligations without being entitled or obliged to fund itself in the sphere of emergency housing. [54] The City‘s interpretation of Chapter 12 is premised on its view that local government is not primarily responsible for the achievement of the right of access to adequate housing. Its reliance on Grootboom is misplaced though. While Yacoob J 54 In support of its submission, counsel for the City referred to Chapter 12 at 254, 259, 277, 278, 280 and 286, especially during oral argument. 55 See [16]-[29] above. 56 See section 4 and section 8(2), set out in n 21 and [25] respectively. 26