The ANC national executive committee (NEC) decided in 2004 that the Merafong municipality be moved from Gauteng to North West. All subsequent public participation processes were, in effect, doomed from the start, court papers claim.
These contentions were made in the Constitutional Court by Khutsong residents challenging President Thabo Mbeki, who tops the list of 16 respondents, to reverse the decision to incorporate the cross-border municipality of Merafong into North West.
It was make or break for the people of Khutsong as they started on Thursday with their final push to persuade the government to reconsider. This after years of civil unrest have seen life in the township come to a virtual standstill.
The Merafong Demarcation Forum is challenging Mbeki, Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla to contest whether there was sufficient public participation in the decision to hand the municipality over to North West.
The residents say that, although public hearings were held by the Gauteng legislature, the decision that Merafong should be part of the North West was a fait accompli long before public consultations were completed.
They claim the decision was made by the NEC and therefore the ‘government mechanically went through the process of public participation and was not open to persuasion. It was a process in form but not in substance.â€
Mufamadi says no such decision was taken and the fact that the Gauteng provincial legislature at one point objected to the incorporation of Merafong shows that the government was ‘open to persuasionâ€.
Initially the Gauteng provincial portfolio committee on local government was concerned about the problems with service delivery, which it feared would be worsened by a move to North West. In a committee report it objected to the incorporation, but was eventually convinced that the proposed plans to improve service delivery to Merafong, including the Merafong Relief Plan, would deal sufficiently with the service delivery challenges.
In her affidavit North West Premier Edna Molewa vigorously denies any suggestion that service delivery in Merafong would, or has, suffered.
The Merafong residents insist that service delivery is not their only reason for wanting to remain part of Gauteng. The ‘sentimental and emotional attachment of the people of Merafong to Gauteng†is cited, as well as the ‘identity of the people and their social fibre linkage with areas in Gautengâ€.
They argue that better infrastructure, transport links, recreational facilities and amenities are in Gauteng.
The Merafong Demarcation Forum has opposed government’s argument that Merafong had to be incorporated into North West province so that an equitable share of the national revenue of the province was not affected.
The residents dismiss this consideration because the number of residents is one of the six factors taken into account in the formula, but it is not the overriding factor.
Mufamadi argues that North West lost 600Â 000 inhabitants as a result of the nationwide realignment of provinces that was necessary to ensure all provinces were balanced to deliver and to improve on the services to their communities.
‘By incorporating Merafong into North West, Parliament sought to increase its equitable share so as to ensure that the province is viable and can provide and deliver services to its inhabitants,†says Mufamadi.