Proposed merger has residents up in arms

The public hearing about the proposed amalgamation of Umjindi Local Municipality with Mbombela Local Municipality, which was held last Friday at Barberton Town Hall, was a heated meeting marked by mockery and shouting.

The majority of local residents opposed the proposal of amalgamating the two municipalities.
However, a minority of public members clad in ANC T-shirts supported the idea and indicated that the proposal to merge non-viable municipalities with viable ones will assist the struggling municipalities to fulfil their mandate of service delivery and to be financially sustainable.

They heckled the speeches of everyone opposing the merging of the two municipalities.
Three members of the Municipal Demarcation Board of South Africa (MDBSA) chaired the meeting. They were Shivon Wiggins, Hester Marais, and Rofhiwa Raedeni.

Wiggins asked the residents to participate in the public opinion poll to make their voice heard and be part of the decision-making process on this very important issue.

She said the MDBSA decided to call the public meeting to obtain more public input before taking decisions.
“After this public meeting the MDBSA will consider all inputs on the criteria provided and take a decision to redetermine the boundaries or not. Should the MDBSA decide to redetermine the municipal boundaries, a notice will be published in theProvincial Gazette and a period of 30-days will be allowed for public objections,” said Wiggins.

She said after the 30-days objection period all objections would be considered and the MDBSA would then decide to confirm, vary or withdraw its redetermination of the boundaries.

“The demarcation process is concluded when the MDBSA publishes its final decision in the Provincial Gazette. Depending on the view that the Independent Electoral Commission will express on the matter, it is likely that the redetermination will take effect on the date of the next local elections in 2016,” said Wiggins.