/ 29 August 2005

Border shift sparks electoral angst

Planned boundary changes to an Eastern Cape ”cross-border municipality”, announced recently, were preceded by intense behind-the-scenes lobbying by provincial African National Congress leaders concerned about the loss of electoral support.

The Mail & Guardian has learned that the Eastern Cape ANC was particularly concerned about the relocation of Kokstad to KwaZulu-Natal.

On Wednesday, Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi tabled proposals to rationalise 16 cross-boundary municipalities based on a 2002 ANC resolution that no municipality should straddle provincial boundaries.

Cross-border municipalities are segmented, with the different parts serviced by different provinces. This has created confusion, with sections of the same urban area often accounting to provinces with different economic priorities and legal systems.

”If laws of more than one province need to be administered in a cross-boundary municipality, it is confusing, duplicative and costly,” said Mufamadi. ”A cross-boundary municipality needs both provinces to approve its integrated development plans [as well as] the coordination and integration of … budgets.”

In addition to the administrative rationale, some provinces are likely to lose large tranches of their voters if provincial legislatures approve the proposals.

The Eastern Cape will be forced to cede the Umzimkhulu local municipality to KwaZulu-Natal. Although the decision makes geographical sense because Umzimkhulu, part of the Eastern Cape’s Alfred Nzo municipality, is an island in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape ANC stands to lose 60 000 voters.

An Eastern Cape ANC leader, who asked not to be named, said he believed that Kokstad, a historically advantaged town in KwaZulu-Natal that services commercial farming and forestry, would be included in Alfred Nzo to bolster its economy and stem voter loss.

Alfred Nzo is the poorest district municipality in the country. Eastern Cape leaders presented a paper at a recent meeting with the KwaZulu-Natal government, attended by Mufamadi, which argued strongly for Kokstad’s inclusion in the Eastern Cape.

The M&G understands that at the eleventh hour, the national government decided against doing this. Its view was that such a move would fuel tensions in KwaZulu-Natal as the Inkatha Freedom Party would not support it, causing a face-off in the provincial legislature.

Without the IFP’s support, provincial boundaries cannot be amended as two-thirds of the legislature’s support is required. The M&G also understands Luthuli House favours bolstering the ANC’s voter base in KwaZulu-Natal to strengthen its political grip over that province.

Siya Mlamli, ANC regional secretary in Alfred Nzo, said he was dismayed by the decision to exclude Kokstad from the Eastern Cape because of the consequences for service delivery. Kokstad was serviced by workers from Alfred Nzo, who received services in Umtata, 70km away.

Also contentious is the inclusion of the Gauteng cross-boundary municipalities, Merafong City and Westonaria, in the North West province.

In 2003, residents of Bronkhorstspruit and Bekkersdal, near Westonaria, took to the streets to voice their unhappiness at being incorporated into Mpumalanga and North West, saying they lacked faith in their delivery capacity.

The two municipalities are about 250km from Mafikeng — the North West capital. Mafikeng is 80km away from Johannesburg, the capital of Gauteng.

Gauteng will gain about 170 000 people as tranches of Ekurhuleni and Tshwane West Rand District councils are ceded to it. This has revenue implications, as the equitable share formula for provincial governments and conditional grants will be revised to take account of the new demographics.