(Graphic: Gordon Johnson/pixabay)
The municipal delimitation board is considering moving several municipal boundaries in the country in an attempt to enlarge certain municipalities.
This includes the enlargement of the boundaries of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, the Rustenburg Municipality, the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality.
The council also plans to establish two new metropolitan municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape with the shifting of municipal boundaries.
The civil rights organization AfriForum is nowhere to be found and says it will fight it.
Petrus Coetzee, adviser for local government affairs at AfriForum, says the intended changes will mean that Dealesville, DeWetsdorp, Soutpan and Tweespruit will form part of Mangaung, while Rustenburg, Swartruggens, Koster and Derby will form part of a new municipality.
“AfriForum is concerned about this process that the municipal demarcation board has launched, and will oppose the planned changes in many parts of the country,” says Coetzee.
He points out that all the existing metropolitan municipalities’ areas of responsibility will increase remarkably if the council gets its way.
“This will increase these municipalities’ funding and create increased opportunities for corrupt officials to obtain money illegally.”
Coetzee says that the solution to South Africa’s mismanagement of municipalities and the total collapse of service delivery lies in a federal approach, and not in a stronger centralist system as these changes will bring about.
“Mangaung is an example of an extremely ineffective metro, where residents have been suffering for years under dire conditions due to poor service delivery. It makes no sense at all to increase the responsibility of a municipality that has totally failed.”
AfriForum is currently preparing comments against the enlargement of certain municipal areas in the country.
