Residents of the West Rand have expressed contrasting views on a proposal to merge the region's four municipalities into a single West Rand metro. The Municipal Demarcation Board on Tuesday held its last round of public hearings on the merger of Merafong‚ Westonaria‚ Randfontein and Mogale City.The proposal was put forward by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Pravin Gordhan‚ who said the proposal was based on the fact that individually the municipalities were not viable‚ and grouping their resources would make life easier for local government on the West Rand.The four towns were established on the back of thriving mining activity but this sector declined over the past two decades‚ leaving the municipalities with less revenue and little investment from the private sector.West Rand district municipality (of Randfontein) executive mayor Mpho Nawa said the idea of integrating the municipalities had been under discussion since 2003.Nawa said the benefits of a single metro far outweighed the negatives.“We are moving that the metro has the potential to change this region for good. We should not be held back by party politics … We must think about the interests of our people.”He said the merger would allow the four entities to combine their resources enabling the new metropolitan area to attract investments.As an example of the savings a merger would bring about‚ Nawa said‚ “The City of Johannesburg spends R2-million on one municipal manager; we are spending R6-million on four municipal managers.”Jimmy Mokae of Mohlakeng told the demarcation board that the new metro would change the life of young people in the region. He urged the community to think about the future of the West Rand and not to make contributions to the board hearing based on the past.But there were also opposing views from residents who raised concern that each of the municipalities had debt‚ and merging them would not make this debt disappear.Those opposed to the metro further argued that it was misleading “to think potholes and municipal services will improve” through the mere status of the metro.“Let us first solve the problems that we have individually and then deal with the metro at a later stage‚” said one of the residents.The board will gazette its decision at the end of August...