Line-drawing puts services on hold

24 June 2016 - 09:35 By OLEBOGENG MOLATLHWA

The frequent redrawing of municipal boundaries is disrupting service-delivery projects, said Deputy Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Andries Nel, yesterday. "When we come around every five years to redetermine boundaries for purposes of political representation, that process tends to interfere with the social and developmental projects taking place in a particular ward," he said.Nel was addressing the Municipal Demarcation Board's conference on demarcation and spatial transformation in Boksburg.The demarcation board's decision to merge Vuwani with Malamulele in Limpopo sparked violence that saw destruction of public property including the setting alight of more than 20 schools.But Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen said violent protests do not mean that nothing has changed."As our townships burn, it seems as if nothing has changed. You would be wrong to think so. We are not going to tell lies and claim easy victories but we have registered some unprecedented victories."However, Somadoda Fikeni, political analyst and honorary professor at Unisa, questioned the wisdom of redrawing municipal boundaries so close to an election.This had cast the Independent Electoral Commission and some councillors as accomplices in the alleged manipulation of municipal wards for political gain, he said.The chairman of the Municipal Demarcation Board, Jane Thupana, defended her organisation's independence after the board repeatedly faced criticism that it, too, was prone to political influence.The criticism came after a request was submitted to merge the DA-run Midvaal municipality with Emfuleni local municipality, in the Vaal, to establish what would have been Gauteng's fourth metropolitan municipality. That request has since been placed on hold until after the August 3 election.Said Thupana: "The board's functions are restricted solely within the confines of the law."..

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