The government has once again dashed Khutsong residents’ hopes that the controversial legislation on cross-border municipalities will be reversed, leading them to vent their frustrations on newly elected councillors.
Violence resurfaced in Khutsong recently after the inauguration of the mayor and the new council. Houses belonging to two councillors were torched as residents appeared to pursue a strategy of driving out all municipal representatives.
However, there are no signs that the authorities plan to revisit the legislation. The Department of Provincial and Local Government’s legal adviser, advocate Shami Kholong, said this week that the government was now concentrating on ensuring that -service delivery in the former cross-border municipalities was prioritised.
”This is a decision that was taken in the interests of the people at national, provincial and local levels,” said Kholong.
He added that the government has not been silent on the issue, as it had engaged with people from Merafong on various occasions.
Kholong also made a call to residents to re-establish ward committees so that they could participate non-violently in discussions of how to develop the area.
Councillors from Khutsong township, which forms part of Merafong municipality, were elected by 1% of the registered voters in the local government election. Almost all the ward councillors have fled the township and have been unable to carry out their responsibilities.
Because they no longer reside in Khutsong, residents argue that they have forfeited their positions. They say the councillors are in breach of their oaths of office, in which they committed themselves to living in the area that they serve.
This situation has further hampered development in an area that is grossly disadvantaged, despite being close to some of South Africa’s most productive gold mines.
The West Rand district secretary of the South African Communist Party, Nkosiphendule Kolisile, denied that the strategy was to drive councillors from the area in order to push for their removal from office on the grounds that they are not performing their duties.
”Violence is not our strategy, it can’t be. Our strategy is to engage in peaceful mass protests, which are still to come. If we feel that economic processes [in Merafong] need to be disturbed, we will do that,” said Kolisile.
”People are venting their anger against councillors whom they are saying do not represent them because they did not vote for them,” he added.
Merafong municipality spokesperson Seabo Gaeganelwe remarked that if the unrest in Khutsong persists, the municipality will have no way of determining the community’s needs.
”Given the current situation in Khutsong, how can you represent people who don’t want you? Can you put your life, and the lives of family members, at risk over this?” he asked, referring to the councillors whose houses had been burnt down.
Despite continuous violence, the government has called meetings with members of the community on a couple of occasions to address the crisis.
However, those who had attended these meetings had fallen prey to violence from other members of the community, who accused them of being sell-outs. ”There’s still a culture of fear in Khutsong, and people are afraid to be linked with the government. But we are not going to limit ourselves to Khutsong — it’s not the only [township or town] in Merafong.”
Claims that the authorities had made a sincere effort to engage with the community were, however, dismissed as ”false and misleading” by Khutsong community leader Jomo Mogale, also a member of the Anti-North West Campaign. ”Those are hundred percent lies. The only time government engaged with us is when Terror Lekota came to Khutsong and caused havoc.
”He found me in a shebeen and personally said to me that Sydney Mufamadi had failed the ANC [on the issue of cross-border municipalities],” he said.
Local government legislation expert Kevin Allan said the residents of Khutsong should draw a lesson from the current stalemate. ”If you boycott polls, you must take responsibility for your situation. You can’t then blame councillors [for not addressing your problems],” he said.
Residents of Khutsong, and those of Moutse in Mpumalanga and Matatiele in the Eastern Cape, are still awaiting the Constitutional Court’s ruling on their challenge to the constitutional amendment abolishing cross-border municipalities.