Khutsong residents are not accepting their fate regarding the government’s decision to incorporate their municipality into the North West province. Instead they plan to challenge the government in the Constitutional Court on March 30.
Jomo Mogale, leader of the Anti-North West Organisation, told the Mail & Guardian Online that the residents of Khutsong are taking the government to the Constitutional Court on the basis that ”they were not consulted” about their decision to incorporate the Merafong municipality into the North West province from Gauteng.
Khutsong is part of the Merafong district and the community is preparing to battle it out in the courts to remain part of Gauteng.
Mogale said: ”We want to remain in Gauteng. It’s as simple as ABC. We think we stand a good chance of staying in Gauteng, provided that the judges are not pressurised by the ANC [African National Congress].”
In the meantime, the residents of Khutsong are not ”recognising their present councillors”, he said.
Of the protests, which were often violent, in the township prior to the March 1 municipal elections, he said: ”It’s 100% quiet. We don’t want violence. We’ll practise passive resistance, but we won’t support the councillors.”
Mogale said that the residents were last week informed in a mass meeting that something was being done about the demarcation situation.
Khutsong residents vowed to boycott the elections over the incorporation of their municipality into the North West Province from Gauteng, and by nightfall on March 1 only 300 of 30 000 registered voters had cast their votes in the area.
ZZ Zinja, a 28-year-old self-employed tattoo artist, told the M&G Online that the situation in Khutsong had returned to normal immediately after elections.
”Things are normal now. They [the residents] are quiet, but it might start all over again,” said Zinja.
He said all the schools were operational again and his friend Chix, who is in matric, was getting ”bored with the situation” of the riots, which erupted earlier this year.
”He’s at school. He’s a dedicated person who wants to pass,” said Zinja.
During the week leading up to the elections, all the high schools in Khutsong were abandoned by students, who decided to protest for some of their peers who were arrested for public violence.
When asked if they are now accepting their fate, Zinja said he had heard that the residents were ”going to deal with the issue” of the demarcation process.
”The thing is, we were not voting because of what they [the government] have done. Nobody voted,” he said.
The Pretoria High Court decision last month dismissed the urgent application of the Merafong Demarcation Forum to stop the transfer of their assets and services to the North West province on February 28.