AfriForum will fight planned enlargement of municipal areas
13 April 2023
AfriForum, in collaboration with its team of specialists, is preparing comments against the enlargement of certain municipal areas in the country. This follows after the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) announced that it is considering moving several municipal boundaries in the country. The council seeks to enlarge certain municipalities and create new ones.
As part of various changes, the council is planning, among other things, to enlarge the boundaries of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, Rustenburg Municipality, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. It also includes the establishment of two new Metropolitan Municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape by moving current boundaries.
These changes will result in Dealesville, De Wetsdorp, Soutpan, and Tweespruit forming part of the Mangaung Metro. Rustenburg, Swartruggens, Koster and Derby will form a new municipality.
“AfriForum is concerned about this process launched by the MDB and will oppose the planned changes in many parts of the country. If the council is successful, it will result in a remarkable increase in all the existing Metropolitan Municipalities’ areas of responsibility. This will increase these municipalities’ funding and create increased opportunities for corrupt officials to obtain money illegally,” says Petrus Coetzee, AfriForum’s advisor for Local Government Affairs.
Coetzee further argues 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 centralist system that these changes will bring about. “Mangaung is an example of an extremely ineffective Metro, where residents have been suffering for years under dire conditions because of poor service delivery. It makes no sense at all to increase the responsibility of a municipality that has failed. Finally, we are also concerned that these changes will affect other towns in dysfunctional municipalities and thus have a negative impact,” concludes Coetzee.
AfriForum encourages communities to get involved and submit comments. Please visit https://www.demarcation.org.za/ for more information.
Issued by Petrus Coetzee, Advisor: Local Government Affairs, AfriForum, 13 April 2023
