It is a common refrain: South Africa is a unitary state and it is reactionary and small-minded to engage in parochial battles about which town should fall under which provincial government.
So why would councillors resign, tyres be burnt and stayaways be held because some residents of the far East Rand and far West Rand do not want to be moved away from Gauteng?
”Why should we go to Tarshish when we have Canaan — our land of milk and honey? We belong to Gauteng,” commented a farm worker at a meeting convened by residents of Carletonville, which falls under the Merafong City municipality, to protest a forthcoming incorporation into North West.
The Canaan would be Gauteng, while Tarshish in this instance refers to the North West where the majority of residents do not want to go. Tarshish in the Bible refers to the evil place Jonah went to in an attempt to run away from God but ended being swallowed by a whale.
Towards the end of last year resistance exploded in Bronkhorstspruit and Bekkersdal near Westonaria when residents took to the streets to voice their unhappiness at being incor- porated into Mpumalanga and the North West.
At the heart of the matter is a 2002 African National Congress Stellenbosch congress decision to do away with cross-border municipalities because of their unsustainability. Under the cross-border system a single municipality would be segmented, with one part being serviced by one province and the other by a different province. This created confusion, with municipalities accounting to different provinces often with separate priorities.
There are currently 16 cross-border municipalities that will be affected by the ANC decision.
ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe told the Mail & Guardian that the party is unlikely to reverse its decision. ”We are convinced that the rationale to do away with cross-border municipalities was correct and that will not change,” he said.
But opposition in Bekkersdal, Carletonville and Bronkhorstspruit is not related to the principle of eliminating cross-border municipalities. Instead it is because people have no faith in the delivery capacity of the North West and Mpumalanga. As a resident said last week during a protest march in Carletonville — ”Ha re ye ko tlaleng [We will not agree to be taken to a place of suffering].”
The ANC in Gauteng says its plan is a bigger reconfiguring of municipalities to ensure that none remain perpetually poor and unable to deliver services.
But the protesters suspect that Gauteng wants to retain a squeaky clean image of efficiency and delivery and rid itself of those burdensome municipalities that do not conform to the image. The Bekkersdal community cannot understand why it — 10 minutes from Soweto — suddenly now has to report to a provincial government in Mafikeng, which is three hours drive away. Carletonville, similarly, is about 250km away from Mafikeng and only 80km from Johannesburg, where the Gauteng provincial government is located.
The pressure on local councillors has been immense. In Bronkhorstspruit, councillors were forced to resign owing to the relentless public protests against them. These are political tensions councillors cannot afford ahead of the local government elections later this year.
Some of those spearheading protests are former councillors and it is not too wide of the mark to suspect that they do this with one eye on the elections. Serving councillors in affected areas fear the protests are led by people who intend to ensure they are not returned to office after the December local government elections.
In Bekkersdal, ANC members characterised the protests as being led by former black consciousness activists and the ruling party has also tried to question the bona fides of those leading the protests in Carletonville and Bronkhorstspruit.
It is akin to some in national leadership who have suddenly questioned Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s status as an icon merely because he had the audacity to criticise President Thabo Mbeki last year.
The mayor of Carletonville, Des van Rooyen, has sought to have the best of both worlds. In his capacity as mayor he has stated his objection to incorporation into the North West. He has pointed out that the town contributes 28% of the income of the West Rand. But as an ANC member he recently accepted a position as a deputy chair of the North West southern region, making sure he is not left in the lurch should the ANC bulldoze its decision through.
Motlanthe told the M&G that it was important to remember that South Africa was a unitary state and that no municipality would be denied resources merely because it fell under a province with a different name.
He added that the ANC was prepared to listen to residents and to explain to them the advantages of the new demarcation proposals. ”We will hear them out; there is no need for them to push an open door”.
The ANC would do well not only to explain the advantages of these moves but to be prepared to change its mind if there is overwhelming opinion and convincing reasons from residents to reject head office recommendations. The Freedom Charter, now 50 years old, dictates that the people must govern.