The community of JB Marks Local Municipality in the North West Province has used the parliamentary public hearings on the Independent Municipal Demarcation Authority (IMDA) Bill to call for the reversal of the merger of Tlokwe and Ventersdorp municipalities into JB Marks Local Municipality. They claimed that the merger was done without public consultation.
The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs conducted public hearings on the IMDA in Potchefstroom yesterday where a number of citizens told the committee how demarcation has failed the public and negatively affected service delivery.
JB Marks Local Municipality was established after the 2016 local government elections when Tlokwe and Ventersdorp were amalgamated. The residents claimed that this didn’t result in any improved delivery and that it was done for political agenda. They argued that before the merger Tlokwe Local Municipality was functioning effectively. They said service delivery suffered after the merger because Ventersdorp was a struggling municipality.
In supporting the Bill, the residents warned that in future economically viable municipalities must not be merged with municipalities that had no revenue as this negatively affected service delivery.
Commenting on the Bill the citizens told the committee that they hoped the provision for more extensive public participation and stakeholder consultation during demarcation of municipal boundaries will help avoid situations such as Tlokwe and Ventersdorp merger.
According to the Municipal Demarcation Board the matter of the merger of Tlokwe and Ventersdorp is a subject of an investigation, and the public will also have an opportunity to make submissions.
Though a majority of the citizens spoke mainly about the need to undo the amalgamation of the municipalities, there were those who commented about the Bill and supported it especially the emphasis on public consultation.
The IMDA Bill seeks to repeal and replace the Local Government:Municipal Demarcation Act, 1998 (Act No. 27 of 1998) to align and update the legislation with current Demarcation Board practices, and to rename the Municipal Demarcation Board as the Independent Municipal Demarcation Authority.The Bill also provides for the establishment of the Demarcation Appeals Authority to deal with appeals.
“We have noted the matter of the amalgamation of the two towns that is hurting you so much, matters related to existing demarcation concerns will be referred to the Municipal Demarcation Board, as a committee we will only consider comments that have to do with the bill, we would also like to emphasize that all your inputs are equally important in shaping the bill into a law,” said the Acting Chairperson of the committee,Mr Gcinikhaya Mpumza.
Source: Parliament of South Africa