/ 5 April 2011

Concourt rules in favour of demarcation board

The Constitutional Court has ruled in favour of the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) in a court case that could have delayed the municipal election, the board said on Tuesday.

While some people might still not understand what the MDB’s role was, it was now possible for all attention to be focused on the May 18 local government elections, MDB chairman Landiwe Mahlangu said in a statement.

He said the Hola Bon Renaissance Foundation (HBRF) had wanted to establish a municipality of Soweto and prevent the announcement of the local government election date.

It had also wanted the municipal demarcation board members fired.

However, the court found that the HBRF had not followed proper procedure in lodging its complaint about the establishment of Soweto as a municipality.

“The foundation was supposed to approach the provincial government as the institution which is constitutionally required to deal with such matters,” said Mahlangu.

On the issue of the firing of board members, HBRF had failed to establish grounds for misconduct, incapacity or incompetence, he said.

In another judgment, the High Court in Johannesburg found against a resident of Ekurhuleni Ward 63 who had argued that residents were not consulted on the delimitation of the ward, said Mahlangu

The court found there was proper consultation and that the resident had not followed proper procedures to object.

Mahlangu said all demarcation concerns had been concluded and had been submitted to the Independent Electoral Commission for further processing. — Sapa