Johannesburg - The battle against the merger of municipalities in the country is not over yet – so says the DA after it lost its first bid to prevent the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) from going ahead with mergers.
The DA lost its first bid in the High Court in Pretoria on Friday to interdict the MDB from implementing the mergers, particularly the merger of Tlokwe and Ventersdorp municipalities.
Now the DA’s James Selfe is pinning his party’s hopes on the second part of the application in which the party argues that the MDB has failed to follow correct procedures to conclude the mergers.
Selfe said that not enough public participation was done prior to the decision to merge the municipalities.
No date has been set for the hearing of the second application in the Pretoria High Court.
Ironically, in September, the same court ruled in favour of the DA after the party in Gauteng challenged the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Pravin Gordhan’s recommendation to the MDB to merge the DA-controlled Midvaal Municipality with the Emfuleni Local Municipality and Sedibeng District Municipality.
The DA’s application came as the ruling ANC in Gauteng were at an advanced stage and making preparation for the inauguration of the new metro which was to be named the Vaal River City Metropolitan Council.
The now-demoted ANC mayor Simon Mofokeng was initially earmarked to be the mayor of the new metro council.
But according to the ANC, the reshufflings at Emfuleni Local Municipality and Sedibeng District Council were aimed at consolidating the party’s stronghold ahead of the next local government elections and had nothing to do with the personal lives of individuals.
The ANC in Gauteng earlier suffered a knock after the MDB turned down the minister’s recommendation to merge the Merafong Local Municipality in Carletonville, Mogale City Local Municipality in Krugersdorp, Randfontein Local Municipality and Westonaria local Municipality into a single West Rand Metro.
The MDB found the West Rand merger would not be economically viable but had already recommended the merger of Randfontein and Westonaria.
In Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp, protests against the mergers culminated in the looting of government buildings.
Reacting to the court ruling in favour of the merger of Tlokwe and Ventersdorp, acting MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements Wendy Nelson welcomed the decision and said: “The provincial government of Bokone Bophirima has always maintained that the processes leading to the decision by the MDB have been fair and transparent.
“The provincial department of Local Government and Human Settlements, working together with councillors and senior management of both municipalities, are at an advanced stage to ensure the establishment of one municipality and meeting the deadline,” Nelson said.
- The Sunday Independent