New ward boundaries will split Ballito in two

The Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) plans to add two new wards in the greater Ballito area in preparation for the upcoming 2016 local elections.

The two wards covering Ballito, Salt Rock and surrounds will become four wards – which may cause confusion for voters.

The MDB will create two new wards in KwaDukuza, wards 21 and 28, in order to even the numbers of registered voters within the municipality.

According to the MDB’s guidelines “the number of registered voters in each ward, may not vary by more than 15 percent from the norm, where the norm is determined by dividing the total number of registered voters on the municipality’s segment of the national common voters roll by the number of wards in the municipality”.

This is also to ensure that there are enough councillors and voting stations per registered voters.

Ward 6 will be split down Ballito Drive, and everything south of the road, including Zimbali and Driefontein will be incorporated into the new ward 21. This despite the board’s mandate “to avoid as far as possible the fragmentation of communities”.

Ward 22 will lose everything west of the R102 to the P447, including Shakaskraal, Compensation, Palm Lakes and Tinley Manor to the new ward 28.

Ward six councillor Colin Marsh and ward 22 councillor Malcolm Hubner said their main concern was that everyone who registered in the effected areas may have to re-register at their voting stations once the ward boundaries are changed.

“This will cause unnecessary admin and frustration,” said Hubner.

Hubner said the DA met on Saturday to discuss the way forward and said they had established a task team to ensure the changes happen as smoothly as possible.

“We will approach the IEC and ask that if possible all the registered voters at each affected voting station simply be moved as a block into their new ward,” said Hubner.

The national consultation period for ward changes across the country began in January and will visit KwaDukuza on March 13 for a public participation meeting. The venue is still to be announced.

KZN is one of the provinces most affected by the municipal boundary re-determinations that were completed and finalised in October last year.

Currently the province has 61 municipalities. Through the amalgamation of municipalities, and the re-determination of municipal boundaries, this number will be reduced to 54 with effect from the date of the next local elections in 2016.