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The state capture years dented the fiscus and, as a result, the Municipal Demarcation Board’s (MDB’s) ability to do its job – especially regarding its crucial public participation obligations.
Outgoing MDB chairperson Jane Thupana told City Press after a briefing at her offices in Centurion this week held to mark the end of her board’s term next month.
The MDB is responsible for approving the demarcation of municipal boundaries, the amalgamation of unviable municipalities and ward delimitations – a process that entails dividing wards equally between ward councillors.
Thupana was appointed in 2014.
“There is no institution of government that is not affected by this. State capture affected the health of the fiscus as a whole. The fact that we are struggling at the moment may not be blamed entirely on state capture but it has made a contribution,” she said.
“There is no way I cannot say that it’s one of the reasons the board cannot even get the kind of funding that it requires.”
Thupana said the institution’s R50 million annual budget hamstrung its ability to consult communities before deciding to change municipal or ward boundaries.
“Issues such as demarcation are very sensitive. It requires more time to engage people; to take them through the process. You can imagine that changing boundaries is costly. But this is about democracy and we should be prepared to fund public participation.”
The board has an office in Centurion and 40 staff members.
“Public participation means living and walking the same spaces with the affected people, gaining trust and confidence of being with people for a long time and having a lived experience,” Thupana said.
If they’d had more money, they could have done more to get communities to buy into their decisions to avoid protests and court cases, especially in areas such as Vuwani and Johannesburg’s Denver Hostel where there were violent protests during her term, she said.
Thupana said the lack of consultation came up in court cases and, even though the courts found in the MDB’s favour, it remained a concern.
Thupana said the MDB’s role had often been misunderstood by cooperative governance MECs and other politicians, especially when wards had to be divided equally between councillors. Councillor numbers rise or fall depending on how many people there are on the voters’ roll, according to a formula drawn up by the cooperative governance minister and implemented by each provincial MEC.
This was critical because it was at the root of deepening democracy, Thupana said, especially in local government elections in which people vote directly for a candidate.
“That is where people vote for a political representative who will be the interface between them and government; people who represent their needs to ensure that they are met,” she said.
Thupana said politicians did not realise that when determining more councillors for wards, it meant introducing more wards within the same municipal boundary. When this happens and residents protest, MECs claim it was the MDB that was messing with wards, not realising it was them.
“If they were to maintain the same number of councillors then there might not be a need to change ward boundaries,” she said.
“Our role is also misunderstood by role players, who unfortunately don’t realise that their actions create instability.”
Thupana said they had proposed that government increase the cycle of ward delimitation from five years to 10 years and link it to the census instead of the voters’ roll. This would give municipalities enough time to consolidate their Integrated Development Plans (long-term infrastructure priorities).
Thupana cited a 2016 interview with an unemployed father living in Johannesburg’s Denver Hostel. He said because his area was going to be added to a new ward, he was going to lose the chance of a reconstruction and development programme house.
“He was close to getting his house. He was more brilliant when articulating what ward delimitation means than politicians. He said in ward 65 he was close to getting a house but in the new ward he would be number last.
“Ward delimitation definitely messes with the basic livelihoods of the people as municipalities plan around wards,” Thupana said.
Other proposals to review legislation included:
. Amending the legislation by setting up a tribunal for aggrieved poor communities rather than having them to go to court. This would give residents an opportunity to appeal their decisions and use the courts as their last resort; and
. Have transactional costs included in the municipal amalgamation application made by a cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister or MECs to prove that a planned merger was funded. This would deal with instability resulting from mergers in municipalities.
The MDB is scheduled to mark its 20th anniversary at a two-day conference beginning on Friday, at which further changes could be proposed.
Thupana said her board had received mixed reactions from political parties and communities during its term. It had been accused by politicians and communities alike for being many things, including “ANC lapdogs”, and of “colluding with councillors”.
But she said in all the decisions they followed the law.
