The resistance Khutsong residents were showing towards incorporation into North West was often the result of genuine misunderstanding, African National Congress president Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday.
”Part of it, from what I understand, part of it has been a genuine misunderstanding among the people,” Mbeki said.
He told Metro FM listeners that party chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota had briefed him on his visit there at the weekend.
”He said, for instance, old age pensioners had been told that with effect once they fall under the North West they must now go travel to Mafikeng to collect their pensions, which is not true.
They will continue to collect their pensions from whatever paypoint had been established for them to collect their pensions in Khutsong.”
Lekota also told Mbeki a police officer was concerned he would earn less if working in the North West than in Gauteng.
Mbeki said he was at a loss to explain where that perception arose as the police were a national institution and members were paid the same salary everywhere.
”In some instances it is something that I really don’t quite understand … perhaps at the back of some people’s minds, the North West remains Bophuthatswana. But the North West is not Bophuthatswana.”
Cross-border municipalities such as Merafong, of which Khutsong was part, slowed delivery because disputes often arose between provinces as to who had to fund what.
Moving Khutsong from Gauteng to the North West would have no impact on service delivery other than improving it, Mbeki said.
He again called on Khutsong residents to accept the move.
”The fact of the matter is that we now have a particular legal position. Parliament has passed various laws and all of that, including a constitutional amendment, and so on. We have an established legal position in the country and I think all of us
should respect that,” the ANC leader added.
”I think the most immediate challenge is … that both the IEC [Independent Electoral Commission] and the government must make sure they create the conditions in this area so that the people who want to vote are able to vote freely.”
Some Khutsong residents have in recent weeks protested violently against their incorporation into the North West and have threatened to boycott next week’s local government election.
Lekota, who is both minister of defence and chairperson of the African National Congress, made a second visit to the area on Wednesday after his hostile reception over the weekend, which was marked by stonings and angry protests.
On Sunday Lekota and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla had to be whisked to safety by heavily armed police, a Star newspaper report said.
Reports said that Lekota reacted strongly to the protesters, who also chanted ”voertsek out of Khutsong” and sang derogatory songs.
SACP local organiser Paul Ncwane attributed the community’s reaction to anger at not being listened to and urged that all community representatives be allowed to ”voice out” their concerns.
He said the people of Khutsong, 90% of whom supported the ANC, were not prepared to vote until the matter was resolved.
”People are not prepared to vote. They are only prepared to vote if the ANC changes its mind and Merafong falls back to Gauteng.”
But Mbeki said that could not be done.
”You had decisions passed by the national Parliament and you’ve had decisions passed by the provincial legislatures and there is no way the executive — and that includes the president — can intervene to overturn the decision … it would be illegal,” Mbeki said. – Sapa