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Municipal Demarcation Board of SA
The Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) has resolved not to tamper with any municipal boundaries, currently. This follows a nation-wide public participation process as well as extensive research to reach its conclusion.
The decision, communicated earlier this month, relates to 13 cases affecting 18 municipalities that were referred to it. The Municipal Demarcation Board is adamant about its final decision, leaving disgruntled communities to consider approaching the country’s courts.
There has been uproar in some communities on the MDB’s decisions to keep them where they are. These municipalities are in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Free State. They include Ventersorp, Tlokwe, Qwaqwa, Mjindi and the Naledi Municipalities amongst others.
While some vowed to take the MDB’s resolution to court the entity’s CEO, Manye Moroka says that development might delay the ward de-limitation process.
“Where the issue of delay that you referred to is likely to happen, is if there’s going to be an application for review on those decisions. Now, the disgruntled members of the community do two things; it’s they ask for by year access into how the decisions were made. And that has a 90-day gap. But if they go and apply for a review, it’s also another process. But of course, the process can run parallel, but we are supposed to go and do what’s the limitation in those areas where we had deferred cases.”
Moroka says disgruntled community members may soon have an additional mechanism to raise and deal with concerns before heading to the courts. This mechanism could come with the passing of the Independent Municipal Demarcation Authority Bill.
“But when the new bill comes into place, if instances like these crop up, then there will be what we call the appeals board to take the board’s decision higher up in the system. Currently, the only option available for the disgruntled communities is going to ask for a review,” Moroka explains.
The MDB will soon meet with the IEC to communicate its outcomes and project the way towards the 2026 local government elections. The IEC had given the board six months to finalize the demarcation exercise.
The process entailed the board calculating the number of wards in each municipality, with the number of wards equal to the number of ward councillors in the eight metros and local councils.
The MDB stressed that the demarcation of a municipal boundary is no substitute for efficient service delivery; instead, the onus is on all municipalities to make adequate provision for services.
