THE Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) has resolved that the area of Ezinqoleni Local Municipality will be amalgamated with the Hibiscus Coast Municipality into one municipal area, HCM manager, Max Mbili said at a media briefing on Tuesday.
This information has also been published in the Provincial Gazette. “It is, however, important to note that the MDB will still hear objections under section 21 (4) before this redetermination is gazetted in terms of section 21 (5) of the Municipal Demarcation Act,” Mr Mbili told the media.
Merger talks started in April this year, when the board held consultations to hear the public’s opinion on the merger.
Some HCM residents and ratepayers objected to this merger. “HCM is failing with service delivery as it is. Things will be even worse when the merger is passed,” said an angry ratepayer, who asked not to be named.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC, Nomusa Dube, recently revealed that some of the rural municipalities that came into being in 2000 had been unable to function because of the way they were demarcated, which left them with no rates base and no way to survive.
The recent circular on redetermination of municipal boundaries in KwaZulu-Natal, released by the board earlier this month, proposed to wipe out at least two municipalities. Six others would be merged to make three bigger municipalities.
“Some of the problems were institutional as they could not attract development and investments to these towns. That is why we submitted proposals to ensure that these municipalities would be sustainable and able to share a rates base,” said MEC Dube.
“On August 23, HCM’s Executive Committee unanimously agreed to support the resolution of the Municipal Demarcation Board and, as the municipal manager, I was tasked to prepare a presentation on possible implications for the next Executive Committee meeting to be held on September 3,” said Mr Mbili.
It is council’s view that the amalgamation will not destabilise service delivery; hence the residents of Hibiscus Coast will not be disadvantaged.
Those who wish to lodge an objection are free to do so by completing the objection form and submitting it to the MDB at fax 012 3422480, fax to e-mail: 086 4008191 or e-mail info@demarcation.org.za by September 16. The objection form can be downloaded from the MDB website www.demarcation.org.za. The final decision of the MDB in this regard will be gazetted by September 30.
