The Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) made a decision on Thursday not to demerge the JB marks municipality.

This decision comes merely a day after various stakeholders delivered thousands of petition letters signed by residents in both Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp supporting the demerging of the municipality. Hans Jurie Moolman, DA Caucus leader, who has been leading the charge to have the municipality demerged has asked for transparency regarding the MDB’s decision,

According to Moolman, the MDB initially refused access to a key technical research report, citing that the Board had yet to consider it. However, now that a decision has been made, community stakeholders are demanding immediate access to the report and a clear explanation of how the decision was reached.

“We want to know exactly how the Board arrived at its conclusion,” Moolman said. Adding that the report will be circulated to “each and every resident” of the community including the approximately 14,000 people who were assured their views would be taken into account.

“The decision to merge the Tlokwe and Ventersdorp municipalities in 2015 has been detrimental for service delivery in both towns,” Moolman said.

Potchefstroom especially has been severely affected and must make do with much less funding. In Ventersdorp only about 15-20% of residents pay for municipal services. While in Potchefstroom 65 -75% of residents pay for services.

The merger of the two municipalities was decried in 2015 as a political move to stop the DA from becoming the majority party in Potchefstroom.