Plans by the Northern Cape Afrikaner settlement of Orania to seek a court order to postpone the upcoming local government election in the town have been put on ice.
Orania intended filing for the order on Monday next week.
Instead, on Monday Orania's legal team will ask the Kimberley High Court to postpone the application indefinitely, according to documents filed this week.
The request for a postponement would be sought on the basis that the Northern Cape government had taken action to rectify mistakes relating to Orania's status before the local election, scheduled for December 5.
The Afrikaner town was structured as a private settlement in 1991
In terms of Article 12 of the Municipal Structures Act, all existing municipalities have to be abolished before the elections. However, in the case of Orania, this has not been done, meaning that an election would be illegal. This was one of the major points in the town's initial application for the poll to be postponed.
When the provincial government learned of this discrepancy, it published a notice in the provincial gazette on November 15, proclaiming its intention to abolish the Orania municipality. The notice gave November 30 as a deadline for comments.
This deadline rendered Orania unable to launch an application for a postponement of the election as it could be argued by the respondents that the matter had yet to be finalised.
The respondents, 48 in total, included President Thabo Mbeki,Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi, Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Northern Cape Premier Manne Dipico, Local Government and Housing MEC Pakes Dikgetsi, the Municipal Demarcation Board and the Independent Electoral Commission.
The remaining respondents were the Bo-Karoo district municipality and all local councils falling under its control.
Orania's actions followed the failure by the government and the Municipal Demarcation Board to resolve the community's demand for self-determination and its objection to its envisaged merger with Hopetown and Strydenburg into a single municipality after the elections.
The Afrikaner town, structured as a private settlement in 1991, maintains that its claim to self-determination is underpinned by the Constitution. - Sapa
