Midvaal merger 'smacks of political machinations'

The Municipal Demarcation Board yesterday announced the merging of the DA-controlled Midvaal municipality with Emfuleni local municipality and Sedibeng district municipality, despite strong opposition by the party.

The three municipalities will now form a single metropolitan council .

The Lesedi local municipality, which was part of the Sedibeng district municipality, will now fall under the jurisdiction of Ekurhuleni.

Midvaal was the only municipality in Gauteng not governed by the ANC.

Following a protracted process that began in 2011, the demarcation board announced its final determination on the 157 proposals it had considered.

Gauteng had only three proposals for consideration and all of them were confirmed.

The other two were the amalgamation of Randfontein and Westonaria local municipalities into a category B local municipality, and the transfer of a portion of Eastgate shopping centre from Johannesburg to Ekurhuleni.

The new demarcation will increase the number of metropolitan councils in Gauteng to four by 2016. The province will then have only three local municipalities and one district municipality.

The ANC welcomed the board's decision on the amalgamation of Midvaal with Emfuleni and Sedibeng, saying it would bring development and prosperity to the area.

"Municipalities under the metropolitan system are able to attract much revenue and deliver high-level service as compared to small district municipalities," the party said.

Political analyst Shadrack Gutto said there could be good reasons for the changes in demarcation - but they could be politically motivated.

Gutto said there was little evidence to back up the ANC's claim that the amalgamation would result in faster development.

"In practice . evidence available does not suggest that there are substantial improvements in services such as schools, quality of infrastructure, health facilities and clean water. You find these still favour the rich or middle-class [areas]," he said.

Gutto said political parties had time to reposition themselves ahead of next year's general election and use strategies "that will deal with the new reality".

The DA's Gauteng premiership candidate, Mmusi Maimane, said the party believed that the demarcation board's decision had been tainted by "some political meddling".

"We feel that it has everything to do with undermining the DA's excellent service and delivery record. Our view is that the board's decision does not seek to add opportunities for development in the area. It is political planning," Maimane said.

He said having bigger metros did not guarantee better service delivery.

"Metros have increased rates just by the fact that the administration becomes bigger and, therefore, much more cumbersome," he said.

The provincial leadership of the DA would decide on a course of action.

KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number of mergers announced by the board , seven. This will reduce the number of municipalities from 61 to 54.

Over the past 13 years there has been a steady decline in the number of municipalities.

Before 2000, there were 824 but by 2011 the figure had dropped to 226. By the next local government elections - in 2016 - the figure will be 215.