In a recent Randfontein Herald article, the West Rand District Municipality Mayoral spokesperson, Dennis Refentse Mangope said a metro will only boost the West Rand economy, but the DA disagrees, saying Mangope should base his comment on facts.
Solly Msimanga, DA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson, said Mangope is not being realistic about the consequences of merging four West rand municipalities into a single metro.
“While the DA is certainly opposed to the merger, our position is informed by researched and factual evidence – and the effects of such mergers on service delivery and people’s quality of life,” Msimanga said.
The proposed West Rand Metropolitan municipality will start off with a combined debt of over R1,5 billion – a severe blow to quality service delivery. This figure excludes Westonaria, who did not report on its debtors.
Mangope explained the uniformity of transport services, public safety and traffic services will be beneficial to communities. On this, Msimanga argued the metro will inherit more debt than income.
“The formation of a West Rand Metro will severely affect the quality of life of almost a million of Gauteng’s residents, and government must heed the lessons learnt from the Tshwane experience – where after four years, despite increases in rates hikes, it still struggles with a debt burden of over R1 billion – and only received R20 million from national government towards the costs of its merge.”
According to the Municipal Demarcation Act, certain criteria must exist when considering the formation of a metropolitan municipality. These include population size, infrastructure and economy.
“A West Rand Metro would be the second largest metropolitan municipality in Gauteng, but would only have a population size one fourth that of Johannesburg, the province’s most densely populated. It would have the highest levels of unemployment and numbers of people living in informal settlements,” Msimange said.
Another public participation meeting, organised by the Freedom Front Plus, will be held to address the metro merging’s benefits and disadvantages on 23 July at 10am in the Centenary Hall at Krugersdorp’s Town Hall.
Related articles:
• Metro merger madness – was it a conspiracy?
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