In terms of section 22 of the Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Act, 1998, the Municipal Demarcation Board may determine or re-determine municipal boundaries on its own initiative, on request by the Minister or a MEC for local government, or on request by a municipality with the concurrence of any other municipality affected by the proposed determination or re-determination.

In August 2005 the Minister of Provincial and Local Government requested the MDB to re-determine the boundaries of certain municipalities. The Minister’s request was gazetted (Government Gazette No. 27937) for general information on 19 August 2005.

As from 2 September 2005 the Minister’s request was published in the media in terms of section 26 of the Demarcation Act, 1998, inviting the public to submit written views and representation to the Board.

On 7 and 13 October 2005 the Board met to deal with written views and representations received.

The Board re-determined municipal boundaries as follows:

The Board received submissions of a diverse nature. Many recommended changes to existing municipal boundaries such as the inclusion of certain portions of Mbombela into Bushbuckridge; the inclusion of certain portions of Greater Groblersdal into J S Moroka and Thembisile; the inclusion of certain portions of Greater Groblersdal into Ehlanzeni, and the inclusion of certain portion of Sekhukune into Nkangala. Other submissions suggested the inclusion of Groblersdal into Nkangala which will, from the Board’s point of view, adversely affect the viability of Sekhuhkune district municipality. Some submissions from areas such as Moutse, Denilton, Roossenekal, Steelpoort, Bengwenyama, Eerstegeluk, Saaiplaas, Sehlakwane, Groblersdal and Marble Hall also objected to the inclusion of their areas into Limpopo province. In this regard the Board wishes to stress that it has no jurisdiction to deal with provincial boundaries. The applicable legislation limits the Board’s role and mandate to the demarcation of municipal boundaries and the delimitation of wards. Taking into consideration that ward boundaries have been finalised, and the available time before the elections, the Board decided not to entertain most of these requests favourably, but rather to reconfigure municipal boundaries in compliance with the Demarcation Act, with a view to empower the relevant Ministers and Parliament to deal with provincial boundaries as soon as possible. Some proposals for boundary changes received have no relevance to the Minister’s request, and the Bills before Parliament, and can be further considered after the elections.

The Board, inter alia, also took into account other factors, and the criteria provided for in section 24 and 25 of the Demarcation Act, and decided to provisionally re-determine the boundaries of Bohlabela District Municipality, Mopani District Municipality, Ehlanzeni District Municipality, Sekhukune District Municipality and Capricorn District Municipality as follows:

• Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, and the portion of the Kruger Park DMA south of the Olifants River, are excluded from the municipal area of Bohlabela District municipality and included into the   Ehlanzeni District Municipality;
• The Maruleng Local Municipality and the portion of the Kruger Park DMA north of the Olifants River, are excluded from Bohlabela District Municipality and included into Mopani District Municipality;
• The boundaries of Capricorn District Municipality is re-demarcated to include Mkahudatutamaga Local Municipality and Fetagomo Local Municipality; and
• The remainder of Bohlabela and Sekhukune District Municipalities are re-demarcated into one new District Municipality comprising of: Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, Greater Tubatse Local Municipality, Greater Groblersdal Local Municipality and Greater Marble Hall Local municipality.

To give effect to the Board’s re-determination, a section 21 notice and maps will be gazetted in the relevant Provincial Gazettes. The public will have an opportunity to object to the Board’s re-determinations within a period of 30 days of the date following the date of publication of the notice.

Two communities/villages that are socially and economically related and dependent on the Ekangala industrial area in Kungwini, and on other municipalities within Metsweding, Tshwane and the East Rand, fall within the municipal areas of Thembisile and Nkangala. The Board decided that this was a technical error, which needs to be corrected before the elections. Consequently the Board re-determined the boundaries as follows:

To give effect to the Board’s provisional re-determination, a section 21 notice and maps will be gazetted in the relevant Provincial Gazettes. The public will have an opportunity to object to the Board’s re-determinations within a period of 30 days of the date following the date of publication of the notice.

Submissions and motivation in terms of section 24 and 25 of the Demarcation Act, indicate overwhelming resistance to the inclusion of Westonarea and the City of Merafong into the Southern District Municipality. The Board agreed with some motivations provided, and decided, in terms of section 21(5) of the Demarcation Act, to withdraw its re-determination in Notice No. 3359 gazetted in the Gauteng Provincial Gazette No. 375 of 2 September 2005, and Notice No. 458 gazetted in North West Provincial Gazette No. 6208 of 2 September 2005. The Westonarea Local Municipality and the City of Merafong Local municipality thus remain within the West Rand District municipality, and the boundaries of the Southern District municipality also remain unchanged.

The Board received requests to also include Kgatelopele and Tsantsabane into Kgalagadi district municipality. As these requests are only indirectly related to the Minister’s request, and in view of the fact that all wards have already been delimited for the next local elections, and in view of the limited time available to prepare for the elections, the Board decided to investigate these requests further after the forthcoming local elections. An in depth study is required, and if necessary, the Board will approach the Minister of Justice to consider further amendments to the Constitution at a later stage.

As no changes to the boundaries of Kgalagadi and Frances Baard district municipalities were recommended by the Minister, the Board only changed the designation/municipal codes. A notice in this regard was published in North-West Provincial Gazette No. 6207 of 2 September 2005 and the Northern Cape Provincial Gazette No 1009 of 2 September 2005.

As was the case during the investigations conducted and public hearing held by the Trengove Commission in 1995/1996, many diverse views on how these municipalities should be configured, still exist. Some submissions suggested that services in KZN are much better than in the Eastern Cape.

The Board received a number of well motivated submissions to include the Maluti area into Matatiele, and supports the persons and institutions that made submissions in this regard. The inclusion of Matatiele into Alfred Nzo, however, was rejected by some in many well motivated submissions.

The Board also received submissions requesting changes to other municipal boundaries in that area, and a review the boundaries of areas such as Mt Ayliff, Mt. Fletcher, Mbizane, Ntabankulu, Elundini, Mount Frere, Umhlontlo may be desirable. For the same reasons as mentioned under the Limpopo/Mpumalanga municipalities, the Board will not be able to finalise these before the elections, but will give further attention to them after the elections.

After having considered all requests and submissions taking into account sections 24 and 25 of the Demarcation Act, the Board provisionally re-determined the boundaries of Sisonke District Municipality (DC43), Matatiele Local Municipality (KZ5a3), Alfred Nzo District Municipality (DC44), O.R.Tambo District Municipality and Umzimvubu Local Municipality (EC05b2), as follows:

• The Maluti area, is excluded from the municipal area of Umzimvubu Local Municipality, and included into Matatiele Local Municipality in Sisonke District Municipality.
• The declaration of the district management area (DCDMA44) is withdrawn, and the DMA is excluded from the municipal area of Alfred Nzo District Municipality and included into the municipal area of Matatiele Local Municipality in Sisonke District Municipality.
• Umzimkulu Local Municipality is excluded from the municipal area of Alfred Nzo District Municipality (DC44), and included into the municipal area of Sisonke District Municipality (DC43).
• Umzimvubu, excluding the Maluti area, is excluded from the municipal area of Alfred Nzo District Municipality, and included into the O.R.Tambo District Municipality.

To give effect to the Board’s provisional re-determination, a section 21 notice and maps will be gazetted in the relevant Provincial Gazettes. The public will have an opportunity to object to the Board’s re-determinations within a period of 30 days of the date following the date of publication of the notice.

Should it be possible to confirm the above-mentioned re-determinations after the objection period, the Board will need to delimit wards for the Matatiele Local Municipality, and will also need to re-delimit some or all wards in Umzimvubu, Thembisile and Kungweni. This will need to happen as soon as possible, as the ward boundaries will impact and voting districts, the registration of voters and the voters roll which fall within the ambit of the responsibilities of the IEC.

As soon as legislation pertaining to the boundaries of provinces and of cross-boundary municipalities have been finalised, the Board will commence planning for possible further investigations and re-determinations after the forthcoming elections. Elections must be held before or on 6 March 2006.