SHAPING SOUTH AFRICA REFLECTIONS ON THE FIRST TERM OF THE MUNICIPAL DEMARCATION BOARD, SOUTH AFRICA

Transcription

1 SHAPING SOUTH AFRICA REFLECTIONS ON THE FIRST TERM OF THE MUNICIPAL DEMARCATION BOARD, SOUTH AFRICA Publication produced by Municipal Demarcation Board Private Bag X28 Hatfield 0028 Telephone: (012) Fax: (012) Website: Researched and Written by Cheryl Goodenough Edited by Donna Hornby Design and Layout by I-Tek Computers and Design Copyright Municipal Demarcation Board 2004 ISBN

2 Table of Contents FOREWORD... vii CHAPTER 1: DEMARCATION IN CONTEXT... 1 Local Government Situation Pre The Local Government Negotiating Forum and the Local Government Transition Act... 4 The Constitution... 5 The Municipal Demarcation Act 27 of 1998 (as amended)... 6 The Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 (as amended)... 6 CHAPTER 2 : THE FORMATION OF THE MUNICIPAL DEMARCATION BOARD... 9 The Demarcation Steering Committee... 9 Appointing Members of the Municipal Demarcation Board Developing the Institution Budget Constraints...14 Committees of the Board...14 CHAPTER 3: THE DEMARCATION PROCESS Determining Municipal Boundaries CHAPTER 4: INTERACTING WITH THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA The Consultation Process Confrontations...27 Striving to Be Independent...29 Other Objections...30 Traditional Leaders In Conclusion...37 CHAPTER 5: DELIMITATION OF WARDS CHAPTER 6: LITIGATION AGAINST THE DEMARCATION BOARD Orania Hartbeespoort Local Council...44 Bestbier and Others...44 Manganye...44 Fochville...44 Middelburg (Eastern Cape)...45 Cullinan...45

3 Umtamvuna/Port Edward Transitional Local Council and Others St Francis Bay...45 CHAPTER 7: HUMAN RESOURCES AND CAPACITY BUILDING Members of the Board Staff Members...50 The Use of Consultants and GIS Building Internal Capacity...52 Methods of Communication...53 CHAPTER 8: LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS CHAPTER 9: POST ELECTION ACTIVITIES The Work Continues After the Election Reviewing Metropolitan Areas...57 Cross Boundary Municipalities Technical Alignment of Boundaries and Mapping District Management Areas CHAPTER 10: ASSESSMENT OF THE CAPACITY OF MUNICIPALITIES AND POWERS AND FUNCTIONS Preventing Disruption Defining Functions and Powers...64 The Status Quo Assessing Capacity Transitional Period CHAPTER 11: ALIGNMENT OF SERVICE DELIVERY BOUNDARIES WITH MUNICIPAL BOUNDARIES CHAPTER 12: INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION AND RECOGNITION Norway Denmark The World Book Encyclopaedia...72 CHAPTER 13: COMING TO THE END OF A FIVE YEAR TERM References... 75

4 FOREWORD The achievements of the South African government in creating an independent Municipal Demarcation Board stand out as a beacon of democratic practice to all countries. For the first time in the constitutional history of South Africa, the 1996 Constitution made provision for an independent authority to demarcate municipal boundaries. The Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Act, 1998, providing for the establishment of the Demarcation Board, was the first piece of local government legislation enacted after the adoption of our new Constitution. The president of South Africa appointed the members that served the first term of office on the Municipal Demarcation Board from recommendations made through a public and transparent process. For the first time the demarcation of municipal boundaries was not subject to sanction by government because the Board is independent from government, and performs its functions without fear, favour and prejudice. As a result of the Demarcation Act, the Board was allocated a number of functions in addition to the demarcation of boundaries. It is also responsible for the delimitation of wards and the assessment of the capacity of municipalities to perform their functions. It also works closely with government departments on aligning service delivery boundaries. Another outcome of the law was that through the demarcation process municipalities cover the whole of South Africa. The work of the Board also resulted in the compilation of a comprehensive database to advise government on the capacity of municipalities. No other country in the world can boast this set of democratic objectives in boundary delimitation. Since its establishment on February 1, 1999 the Board has made major contributions to the transformation of local government in South Africa: Within 15 months the Board completed the new boundaries of municipalities and wards for the local elections on December 5, The total number of municipalities was, through demarcation, reduced from 843 to 284 as more economically, administratively and financially functional municipalities were established. vii

5 Shaping South Africa The total number of municipal councillors was reduced from to Wards, delimited by the Board, were reduced from to The Board was instrumental in deracialising local government through the demarcation and delimitation processes. For the first time ever, rich and poor, black and white and rural and urban people were in functionally arranged municipalities. A process has begun to enhance effective and efficient service delivery through the capacity assessment process and recommendations to provinces to adjust municipal powers and functions between district and local councils. The achievements of the Board are not only remarkable in terms of the time frame in which they happened, but also in terms of the Board s limited capacity. The Board ensured the active involvement of municipalities and other role players in the activities through committees, public meetings, circulars, a user-friendly website ( and other methods of communication. Role players were empowered through the distribution of a CD called SA Explorer containing valuable information and maps. I am proud of the way we empowered many black and women consultants and students through the demarcation process. I am proud of how costeffectively we managed the process with unqualified audits in each of our years of operation. I am proud that we built an important institution from scratch. I am proud that we achieved what officials from many countries have told us they have not been able to achieve in decades. I am proud of the way we used information and communication technology and geographic information systems (GIS) to manage the process, work which has been recognised already through us receiving an award from Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). I am proud of how we built a team of people who did what needed to be done under difficult circumstances. In the years to come the Board will continue to perform its functions independently. In early February 2004 we handed over the baton to the second Board in the full knowledge that we were able to perform our functions without fear, favour or prejudice. The short-term priority for the new Board is to delimit wards for the next local elections in The Board will also continue to improve the spatial reorganisation of South Africa through the re-determination of municipal boundaries where necessary. The Board s additional functions include giving viii

6 Foreword advice to government on provincial boundaries and working with government departments to ensure the alignment of service delivery boundaries such as police areas and magisterial districts, to municipal boundaries. The Board will continue to assess the capacity of municipalities to ensure optimum service delivery. This book provides a set of reflections on the first five years of the Municipal Demarcation Board in South Africa. We hope that readers will get a sense of the wonderful opportunity given to the Board members to define the new municipal boundaries for democratic local government elections held in December It is truly remarkable and must be unique in the world that a government chooses to cede the power to determine boundaries, which can influence the outcome of elections, to 11 people selected by an independent panel after a public process. These people, who were then appointed by the President, had the major responsibility of shaping the political and administrative landscape of South Africa. May I particularly thank President Nelson Mandela for appointing us, and President Thabo Mbeki for ensuring that we were able to execute our task without fear, favour or prejudice. On behalf of my fellow Board members, I dedicate this book to the people of our wonderful country as our contribution to the creation of a constitutional order in South Africa. Dr Michael Sutcliffe Chairperson: Municipal Demarcation Board, ix

7 CHAPTER ONE DEMARCATION IN CONTEXT Demarcation is an instrument used to create the spatial definition within which government performs certain functions. As a result of demarcation, boundaries are created for the operations of levels or spheres of government, such as local or provincial government. Because there is a functional governance component to demarcation, the size of the space being created is an important determinant. Also important for the same reasons, is the number of people occupying a particular space. These governance boundaries may also overlap with political boundaries that circumscribe a segment of the electorate. In democracies, this electorate votes for the level of government that applies to it and can hold this elected government accountable. However, the power of demarcation to shape constituencies in order to meet particular political outcomes makes it vulnerable to political manipulation. In South Africa s history, demarcation has historically been used to shape electoral outcomes and to structure local government spatially through the Group Areas Act. The result was that development resources could be distributed along racial lines to the benefit of whites and the cost of blacks. TIMELINE 1982 Black Local Authorities Act is passed. It provides for the establishment of town and city councils and similar authorities for black areas The new Constitution contains own affairs notion of local government. It also devolves powers and functions from central to other levels of government but retains policy at central level. Implementation of devolution takes about five years to implement. The Promotion of Local Government Affairs Act is passed and provides for the establishment of the Council for the Coordination of Local Government Affairs. The Council represents intra-parliamentary groupings of all racial groups but is perceived as illegitimate because it does not include non-parliamentary interests such as civic associations black local authorities have been established. The remaining 186 only obtain their status later The Council for the Co-ordination of Local Government Affairs launches an investigation into a new system for local government The report from the Council for the Co-ordination of Local Government Affairs investigation into a new system for local government is released and forms the basis of the old government s proposals during later negotiations The Interim Measures for Local Government Act is promulgated and attempts to integrate black, white, coloured and Indian local authorities. However, it leaves provision for racially based local government structures such as the co-ordinating committees. 1

8 Shaping South Africa Demarcation was therefore central to the post 1994 period of government restructuring and reconstruction, particularly at local government level. In essence, the Constitution s vision was that new boundaries would set the spatial framework within which other processes of transforming and developing local government could take place. Local Government Situation Pre-1994 According to The White Paper on Local Government (p 1), apartheid aimed to limit the extent to which affluent white municipalities would bear the financial burden of servicing disadvantaged black areas. It enabled this through the establishment of local authorities within the framework of the Group Areas Act, which resulted in a system of local government that was fragmented and racially based. In the 1960s limited local government was established in the Bantustans and coloured and Indian management committees were established as advisory bodies to white municipalities. By 1971 responsibility for townships had been removed from white municipalities through the promulgation of the Bantu Affairs Administration Act. Community councils were introduced and later replaced with black local authorities in terms of The Black Local Authorities Act of This Act made provision for the establishment of town and city 1992 In response to calls for uniform tariffs, a more equitable system of payment for services and improved service rendering and service standards, more laws are passed including the Provincial and Local Authority Affairs Amendment Act, which aims to address local government finance and debt. But the Act is considered a unilateral attempt to address the situation and is therefore not implemented successfully (August) The Council for the Coordination of Local Government Affairs decides unanimously that the time has come for its restructuring or replacement by a new national body for local government. The first meeting between the council and an extraparliamentary delegation from SANCO is held and followed by a range of meetings that carry on into the following year. The group decides to establish a local government negotiating forum The Interim Constitution is passed. (March) The Local Government Negotiating Forum is launched. It has three working groups the Legal and Constitutional Working Group, the Services and Finance Working Group and the Management, Administration and Training Working Group. The Local Government Transition Act is passed, Chapter 10 in the 1993 Constitution drafted and an agreement reached on services known as the Agreement on Finance, Services and Service Rendering as a result of the forum s work. The National Training Board for Local Government Bodies is also restructured. Local government goes from a local affairs to a general affairs matter. The Local Government Transition Act enables pre-interim local government bodies to be 2

9 Demarcation in Context established across the country and demarcation boards to be set up to re-demarcate local government areas The negotiated settlements are formalised during a National Summit for Local Government. The Local Government Transition Election Regulations Act is passed. The national general election is held The first local government elections are held across the country except in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape rural areas and a few other places in other provinces. The elections result in transitional metropolitan councils with substructures in metropolitan areas, transitional local councils for urban areas and district councils for rural areas The national Constitution is passed. It provides for three categories of municipality: metropolitan, local and district The Demarcation Act of 1998 is promulgated, providing for the establishment of the Municipal Demarcation Board, appointment of members of the Board, conditions of service, the powers, functions, administration and operating procedures of the Board The Municipal Structures Act is enacted and expands on the Constitution by defining the categories and types of municipalities, the establishment of municipalities and aspects of the municipal councils such as the composition, membership, operation and dissolution; internal structures and functionaries and functions of powers The Municipal Demarcation Board is established Elections are held in the new local government areas under the supervision of the Independent Electoral Commission. councils and similar authorities for black areas. A key criterion for the establishment of such structures was viability and, as a result, only 23 black local authorities had been established by Many residents of these areas rejected these structures as illegitimate as they had rejected the councils before. (White Paper, p 1-2) Consolidating these trends, the 1983 new Constitution contained the own affairs notion of local government although the actual system of own affairs government was only implemented in The White Paper (p 2) sums up the result of implementing legislation that was put in place during this time: Historically, most local government revenue in urban South Africa was self-generated, mainly through property taxes and the delivery of services to residents and business. This particularly suited white municipalities which had small populations to serve and large concentrations of economic resources to tax. By the late 1980s, however, black local authorities were clearly collapsing and townships and homeland rural areas were effectively ungoverned. Against this background, some municipalities began to hold discussions with township representatives. Initially these forums were little more than crisis management structures. However, these initial talks formed the basis for 3

10 Shaping South Africa later local negotiations, and the system of local government we have now. (White Paper, p 3) In an initial response to the need for change, the Nationalist government in 1991 began to backtrack from racial segregation with the promulgation of the Interim Measures for Local Government Act, This Act was an attempt to integrate black, white, coloured and Indian local authorities but the result was still a racially based structure. Nevertheless, it was a base that started to provide a context for serious discussion and negotiation around transformation. The Local Government Negotiating Forum and the Local Government Transition Act These discussions eventually led to the formation in March 1993 of the Local Government Negotiating Forum, which discussed the transformation of local government while the Conference for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) negotiations were underway dealing with national and provincial government. This body consisted of non-statutory members led by the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO) and statutory members that included organised local government, provincial and national government. The first Act that resulted from the forum s discussions was the Local Government Transition Act 209 of This legislation outlined the process for the transformation of the local government system. This process provided for a pre-interim phase before the 1995/1996 elections. During this period the local forums were required to negotiate the appointment of temporary councils, which would govern until the municipal elections. White municipalities were enlarged to include black areas and municipalities were governed for a time by a combination of elected councillors and non-elected representatives. In terms of the Act nine provincial demarcation boards were set up. The boards were required to demarcate the boundaries for the local government elections that were held in 1995 in most parts of the country and in 1996 in KwaZulu-Natal and the rural areas of the Western Cape. The Act also provided for an interim phase, which began after the 1995/ 1996 local government elections. This election replaced the appointed members of the transitional authorities with elected members. The following structures were elected: 4

11 Demarcation in Context Transitional metropolitan councils with substructures in metropolitan areas; Transitional local councils for urban areas; District councils for rural areas accompanied by a network of transitional representative councils and rural local councils. Taking into consideration the apartheid legacy, the 1995/1996 local government elections were a unique event in the process to establish legitimate local government. They culminated in 843 new local authorities. However, the legislation offered only limited criteria for demarcation resulting in different standards being applied in the provinces. There was no coherent strategy or system although broadly the 50:50 rule was applied. This meant that half of the wards were allocated to an area that had been traditionally white, coloured and Indian areas of local government and the other half allocated to areas that had traditionally been black. The final stage outlined in the legislation would begin when a new local government system was in place. This occurred after the local government elections held across the country on December 5, Against this background there certainly was much work ahead to ensure the transformation of local government in South Africa. As Michael Sutcliffe, the chair of the Municipal Demarcation Board, wrote in 1999: While the present interim stage of municipal governance is more democratic than previous municipal governments, it is racially based, particularly given the formula used to determine ward sizes. And many rural South Africans of African origin have no municipal government serving their local needs. (Sunday Tribune June 13, 1999) The Constitution The Local Government Negotiating Forum also provided inputs to ensure that a full chapter in the 1993 Constitution was dedicated to local government. This was the first step in ensuring that the final 1996 Constitution gave full recognition to local government as one of the three spheres of government. Local government was no longer subject to provincial government as it was in the past. Instead it became a sphere of government in its own right distinct but also interdependent and inter-related with the provincial and national spheres of government. 5

12 Shaping South Africa Chapter 7 of the 1996 Constitution deals exclusively with local government and addresses issues such as the objects of local government; the status of municipalities, their developmental duties and powers and functions; their establishment, categories and types, local elections, internal procedures, privileges, by-laws and organised local government. The roots of the Municipal Demarcation Board can also be found in this chapter of the Constitution, which states: National legislation must establish criteria and procedures for the determination of municipal boundaries by an independent authority. (Section 155 (3) (b)) The Municipal Demarcation Act 27 of 1998 (as amended) The first law to give effect to this provision of the Constitution was the Demarcation Act of This Act provides for the establishment of the Municipal Demarcation Board, appointment of members of the Board, conditions of service, the powers, functions, administration and operating procedures of the Board. The legislation requires that the Board must determine, and if necessary re-determine, boundaries. It outlines the objectives that the Board must have when determining a municipal boundary, the factors that need to be taken into account by the Board and the demarcation procedure. The Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 (as amended) The second piece of legislation to expand on the provisions of the Constitution was the Municipal Structures Act. The Constitution specifies three categories The Municipal Structures Act provides for: The declaration of areas where category B municipalities are not viable as district management areas. Such areas are demarcated because it is not viable to establish a local municipality. This includes areas such as the Kruger National Park. How cross-boundary municipalities, which straddle a provincial boundary, should operate. What the Board s role is in delimiting wards with local and metropolitan municipalities. While the provincial ministers of local government determine the number of councillors based on a formula devised by national government, the Municipal Demarcation Board has the role of calculating the number of wards. It does this by dividing the number of councillors by two to make provision for ward and proportional representation councillors. A description of the functions and powers of municipalities. Here too the Board plays a role by being required to assess the capacity of municipalities to perform their functions. Provincial ministers of local government decide to adjust the powers and functions between district and local municipalities based on the recommendations of the Board. 6

13 Demarcation in Context of municipality that had to be created through the demarcation process: Category A: A municipality that has exclusive municipal executive and legislative authority in its area. Category B: A municipality that shares municipal executive and legislative authority in its area with a category C municipality within whose area it falls. Category C: A municipality that has municipal executive and legislative authority in an area that includes more than one municipality. The Municipal Structures Act expanded on the Constitution by defining the categories and types of municipalities, the establishment of municipalities and aspects of the municipal councils such as the composition, membership, operation and dissolution; internal structures and functionaries and functions of powers. 7

14 CHAPTER TWO THE FORMATION OF THE MUNICIPAL DEMARCATION BOARD The Demarcation Steering Committee In January 1998 the Demarcation Steering Committee was established by the Department of Constitutional Development to undertake the basic, technical, preparatory work for the independent body that was to become the Municipal Demarcation Board. The committee was chaired by Robert Willemse, an official from the Department of Constitutional Development, and comprised representatives of: The Department of Constitutional Development The nine provincial administrations South African Local Government Association (Salga) Central Statistical Services Independent Electoral Commission Department of Justice Department of Land Affairs Department of Health South African Police Services Office of the Surveyor-General This committee performed a number of key functions. It compiled a document detailing the information required from municipalities for the determination of boundaries; drafted an implementation strategy; prepared terms of reference for an independent investigation on the data required for demarcation, the availability of such data and the information technology infrastructure needed; and considered the staff requirements for the Board. As a result of meetings held and reports received the Demarcation Steering Committee found that there was a gap in the work that had already been set for the Municipal Demarcation Board. This was the need for the functional alignment of the new municipal boundaries with service delivery boundaries. 9

15 Shaping South Africa These included magisterial district, police and health boundaries, for example. An approach to Cabinet in this regard resulted in a resolution by Cabinet on June 24, 1998 that all departments would endeavour to align their functional or service delivery boundaries with municipal boundaries; that the service delivery boundaries would not be finalised without departments first consulting the Demarcation Board; that departments were to supply data for the establishment of an information technology system for demarcation purposes; and that all departments were to provide maps and information on their functional or service delivery boundaries to the Board. Appointing Members of the Municipal Demarcation Board The Demarcation Steering Committee was instrumental in ensuring that the procedures that were required, in terms of the Municipal Demarcation Act, to appoint members to the Demarcation Board were followed. There was a real urgency to get the Board going because of the need to hold local government elections towards the end of Advertisements were placed in the media and a selection panel was constituted, in line with the requirements of the legislation, to consider all 253 applications and compile a list of nominees to be submitted to the Minister for Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development. The selection panel, which was determined in accordance with the Demarcation Act, consisted of Justice Pius Langa, the deputy president of the Constitutional Court, as chairperson; Justice R. Zulman, who was nominated by the Chief Justice; Mr M. Bhabha, the chairperson of the Select Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the National Council of Provinces; the president of the South African Local Government Association (Salga) Councillor C. Matjila; the deputy chair of the Gender Commission, Ms P. Ntombela-Nzimande and Mr Z. Titus, the director-general of the Department of Constitutional Development. The panel conducted interviews with 35 short-listed candidates at the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, and selected 14 nominees for appointment to the Board. Cabinet subsequently approved the appointment of 11 people on January 20, 1999 and a few days later President Nelson Mandela made the official appointment with effect from February 1, Dr Michael Sutcliffe, who was appointed chair by President Mandela, had a background in town planning and 20 years experience in local government as an activist in the United Democratic Front and African National Congress. 10

16 The Formation of the Municipal Demarcation Board Members of the Municipal Demarcation Board appointed in February 1, 1999 Dr Michael Oliver Sutcliffe (chair): A former professor at the planning school at the University of Natal and a member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature and of the ANC s KwaZulu-Natal executive committee at the time of his appointment to the Board. Ms Nkaro Aldefrida Mateta (deputy chair): A former educator and scientist who became involved in local government issues and who was involved in community development initiatives. Mr Vuyo Mlokoti: A regional director in the Department of Housing and Local Government in the Eastern Cape and a former member of a number of local government committees. Ms Renee Hartslief: With a background in the computer software industry, she subsequently became involved in various initiatives concerned with tourism, the environment and integrated development processes in the Free State. Mr Prince Duke Dludla: A town and regional planner with his own development planning consultancy and experience in formal town planning, development planning law and other development related fields. Ms Rosemary Monyamane: A principal of a primary school in Mpumalanga, an ANC local council mayor and member of the Mpumalanga task team on the white paper process on local government. Mr Abraham Petrus Marais: A former mayor of Britstown in the Northern Cape who was involved in provincial committees on tourism, local government and land reform. Mr Kaobitsa Maape: He was chief director of the strategic planning and development unit in the Office of the Premier of the North West Province and holds a post-graduate degree in development planning and economic policy analysis. Ms Jacqueline Marion Subban: Executive director of the development and planning unit of the North and South Central Local Council in Durban and the Salga representative on the Demarcation Steering Committee. Khosi Tshililo Jeffrey Ramovha: Chief of the Mulenzhe community in Limpopo, a member of the Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders and a participant in numerous community initiatives. Professor Robert Greig Cameron: A professor at the University of Cape Town s Department of Political Studies who had extensive experience researching local government transformation and local government boundary demarcation. 11

17 Shaping South Africa The deputy chair, Nkaro Mateta, was a director in the Department of Local Government in Limpopo, with interest in the process of transformation. The first meeting of the Board took place only a day later and coincided with the first local government MINMEC (a committee that brings together the national minister with his provincial political counterparts called MECs) meeting for Although the Board members were from each province throughout South Africa, there was considerable debate, even within the ANC, about this aspect when the demarcation legislation was being drafted. There was a strong feeling that people should sit on the Board as individuals rather than as representatives of provinces or other bodies. Cameron holds the view that the Board is a national body and people should be appointed on that basis rather than on the basis that this person is from that province and the provincial minister likes him. He says: The role of the Board is to transform apartheid settlement boundaries and not to exercise a mandate for anyone. The decision taken by the President with the guidance of the Minister of Provincial and Local Government was to appoint a body with the necessary expertise, and one that was large enough to serve the whole country. As a result, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Province (which was later named Limpopo), being the largest provinces with the most rural poor, each had two representatives while all other provinces had one representative each. However, throughout their term the Board members emphasised that they were in fact not representatives of the province in which they lived but part of a national body serving South Africa. What was important about the Board members, according to Prince Dludla, was that they understood the importance of demarcating boundaries and realised that they were going to be responsible for developing the sphere of government that is most critical to rendering development. It was the first time that local government could influence what provincial and national government do and not just the other way around. Sutcliffe did extensive preparation before attending the first meeting. He also consulted with other Board members, and in particular with Cameron, who had been involved in provincial demarcation processes and, in his own words, was in the pound seats theoretically with demarcation at that time. 12

18 The Formation of the Municipal Demarcation Board Although the task before them was immense, the preparation that had been conducted by the Demarcation Steering Committee was of great assistance in ensuring that the Board could get to work soon after it had been constituted. Developing the Institution The first task that the Demarcation Board faced was to create the institutional framework for this new organisation to operate. The Department of Constitutional Development agreed to provide an office for the fledgling Municipal Demarcation Board, which started with only a full-time chair (the other members of the Board being appointed on a part-time basis). A few months later premises had been found but they were in the process of being built and much of the initial work took place amongst bricks and cement. Robert Willemse, who had been chair of the Demarcation Steering Committee, had in the meantime taken a package from the Department of Constitutional Development and from April 1, 1999 took up a position as a special advisor to the Board. Two deputy managers were also appointed from April 1, Hillary Monare, who went on to become manager of the Board was the deputy manager (professional services) and his responsibility was to manage the programme of finalising all boundaries and other functions of the Board. Roy Naidoo was appointed deputy manager (corporate services) with the responsibility of ensuring that administrative support backup was available for the Board s programme of work. Already members of the public, government representatives and other stakeholders had begun to make submissions to the Municipal Demarcation Board. Everyone wanted to have their say, says Monare. These submissions ranged from those who wanted small technical amendments to be made to their boundaries to those who wanted to ensure their existing boundaries were confirmed. Of course, the latter were generally submissions made by small, white controlled municipalities, which clearly wanted the status quo to remain. Two temporary employees assisted with administrative work in the early days. From the date of its appointment the Board had to drive a programme of boundary formulation within very strict timeframes whilst trying to establish an institutional base, says Dr. Michael Sutcliffe. 13

19 Shaping South Africa Budget Constraints Along with capacity constraints, the Board was also assigned a budget of R30 million, far lower than the R80 million the Demarcation Steering Committee had originally proposed. In comparison, the IEC has a total budget of around R500 million but around R50 million of that budget is devoted to producing maps for voting districts. These districts are administrative units and have none of the legislated requirements that municipal boundaries have. The budget provided for that section of the IEC s work has always exceeded the budget of the Municipal Demarcation Board. Pointing this illogical fact out time and again to national Treasury led to a certain tension between the Board and Treasury. Committees of the Board In an effort to assist the Board to function optimally, a number of committees were formed. The Executive Committee was delegated oversight roles of a financial and administrative nature. The Boundary Committee included representatives from the nine provincial governments and other government departments or institutions such as Stats SA, Land Affairs, the Surveyor General and the Independent Electoral Commission. This committee reviewed outer boundaries, municipalities and wards and where necessary made recommendations to the Board. The Powers and Functions Committee consisted of national, provincial and local government representatives and was concerned with adjustments of powers and functions between district and local municipalities. A Strategy Committee consisted of the manager, chair and deputy chair of the Board and was set up to review longer-term and more strategic issues. Internal committees included the Corporate Service Committee, which dealt with staff matters, the Audit Committee which reviewed the audit plan and audit report and the Executive Committee which consisted of four of the 11 Board members. 14

20 CHAPTER THREE THE DEMARCATION PROCESS With elections due to be held by the end of 2000, the Board set a number of target dates for the completion of work. During the first phase the Board focused on developing policy statements on rationalising municipalities and draft frameworks for demarcation. This was followed by finalisation of metropolitan, district and municipal boundaries. Ward boundaries were the last to be finalised giving the Independent Electoral Commission a few months to do the final election preparation. The demarcation process had to take into account more than 800 traditional authority areas in the country, voting districts (these are the administrative areas within which voters register and vote), 48 health regions and 180 health districts, census enumerator areas, over 400 magisterial districts and 8,5 million land parcels. What makes the process remarkable is the fact that the Board not only rationalised the country in the space of less than a year but also complied in detail with all the legal requirements. As the Board embarked on this process, however, the deadline was somewhat frightening, according to Sutcliffe. Determining Municipal Boundaries June 28, 1999: The Board issues a general framework on nodal points for category A (metropolitan) and C (district) municipalities. July 1999: The Board publishes nodal points for category A and C municipal areas. August 6, 1999: Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi declares that Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and the East Rand will be category A areas. August 10, 1999: The Board publishes the section 26 notice inviting views and representations on the determination of boundaries for category A and C municipalities and possible municipal boundaries extending across provincial boundaries. 15

21 Shaping South Africa September 1, 1999: Over 350 submissions are received responding to the Board s framework on the call for representations on category A and C municipalities and possible cross boundary areas. September 5, 1999: The Board makes available to the public draft boundaries for category A and C municipality boundaries throughout South Africa. These boundaries and comments received by the Board are investigated over a few weeks by some 25 technical teams. When considering the boundaries, the Board needs to take into account factors such as: The revenue base of municipalities and the possible income streams new municipalities could expect; The administrative capacity of municipalities, which included examining provincial regional offices and staffing; Future governmental plans including aspects such as conservation and tourism initiatives, Spatial Development Initiatives and other large-scale infrastructural programmes. October 6 to 14, 1999: Boundaries of category A and C municipalities and possible cross boundary areas are published in provincial gazettes. Advertisements are subsequently published announcing to the public that the determinations have been published in the provincial gazettes. October 11, 1999: The Board publishes a notice stating its intention to consider category B (local) municipality boundaries and inviting written representations and views from the public. The closing date is November 2, During this process a statistically derived indicator of km 2 and people is suggested as the probable norm for category B municipalities. Deviations from this norm are, however, possible given the uneven geographical distribution of population and economic activity throughout the country. There are some large towns that needed to be treated as functional units with populations in excess of one million. At the other end of the scale there are sparsely settled rural or small town areas where a population of would require undesirably extensive geographical areas. The Board feels that it is important that category B municipalities be aggregates of places with significant internal linkages. Shopping, work travel, social interaction, economic independencies and shared transportation networks are amongst the patterns considered. 16

22 The Demarcation Process October 15, 1999: The Constitutional Court finds five sections of the Municipal Structures Act, 1998 to be unconstitutional. The judgement is handed down in response to an application from the KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape governments for the entire Act to be found unconstitutional. The Court, however, rules that most of the sections of the law are constitutional. One newspaper report states: A case in point was the pivotal debate over who has the final say in defining local authority and metropolitan boundaries. The government was adamant that this was vested in [Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney] Mufamadi, while lawyers for the two provinces argued that this was clearly a provincial function. But the judges ruled that neither was correct, that final authority lay with the Municipal Demarcation Board (Cooper 1999) The judgement results in the Board being given extra powers and means that preliminary work that had already been completed has to be redone. The reason for this is that the Constitutional Court decided that it was the Board, and not the national Minister, which should decide on the categorisation of municipalities. The Board subsequently publishes afresh notices inviting comment from the public around the determination of category A and C boundaries. By November 2, 1999: The Board receives 219 submissions with regard to the category B boundaries. As the Board feared, most of the submissions are from more privileged sections of the population and from white municipalities. These submissions are in the main defensive in nature, wanting the status quo to remain. Most submissions do not argue their case in terms of the set of factors that have to be considered by the Board and which involve addressing a wide variety of matters around administrative, economic and financial functionality. Rather they want the status quo, which was largely racially based administration, to remain in place. The majority emanate from the larger provinces of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. 17

23 Shaping South Africa The Board receives another 37 contributions after the closing date for the submissions and these are also assessed. November 4, 1999: The Board presents a framework for the determination of category B municipalities at a stakeholder meeting and subsequently releases the document on the internet. The framework states that in rationalising the number of local municipalities to 235, the Board needs to ensure that: There is geographical contiguity in that each municipality must become a single entity, allowing the building of a local, developmental identity and sense of common civic purpose. There must be greater scope for the development of capacity in that each municipality must be able to at least develop a minimum critical mass of municipal capacity, in terms of staff, assets and finances. There must be greater sharing of resources in that weaker areas must be paired with stronger areas so as to achieve a sharing of existing or potential resources. Municipalities must be more manageable in size. There must be greater functionality, which must be evident in shopping and work travel patterns, patterns of social interaction, economic interdependencies and shared transportation networks amongst other considerations. By November 15, 1999: The Board receives 827 category A and C submissions. Of these 525 are nodal or boundary submissions and 302 are submitted as objections. The greatest numbers of objections are from the Western Cape with 35% (279 submissions) and KwaZulu-Natal with 13% (110 submissions). The Eastern Cape accounts for 9%, Mpumalanga 7%, the Northern Cape 6%, the Free State 5%, Limpopo 4% and the North West 4%. Of the 302 objections, 181 are received from one town, Helderberg, while 33 come from Midrand and five from Centurion. These submissions, which the Board recorded separately, were mostly line s or single line copies faxed through to the Board with no substantiation of the objection. November 18, 1999: The Board determines that the following areas will be category A (metropolitan) areas: Greater Johannesburg, Greater Cape Town, Greater Durban, Greater East Rand, Greater Pretoria and Greater Port 18

24 The Demarcation Process Elizabeth. The Board commissions a study into whether or not Port Elizabeth meets the criteria as laid down in the Municipal Structures Act and finds that it does in fact meet the criteria, which include the metropolitan character of the economy, the functional integration of everyday life, spatial urban coherence against a background of apartheid divisions and the functionality of municipalities to provide services. There was, however, some opposition to Port Elizabeth being declared a metro. Those opposing the Demarcation Board s decision argued that the metro would not be sustainable. The Board, on the other hand, accepted the study that found that the metro would be sustainable and believes that it was justified when a later assessment found that the metro was doing well. The process of demarcating metros is not an easy one even when it seems obvious which cities qualify because the large cities, such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, were previously divided into substructures, each of which had its own mayor and municipal manager. With the new demarcation each city would have only one mayor and manager. In Johannesburg there were eight mayors and we were creating a mega city that had only one mayor and one city manager. The mayors of sub-structures were up in arms about losing their status, Mateta says. There was also considerable pressure from existing Transitional Metropolitan Areas (particularly around the Midrand and Vaal areas) that wanted to remain as metros but were disestablished. In addition, some argued that areas such as East London and Bloemfontein were overlooked. The Board, however, maintains that cities such as these did not meet the criteria at the time although that does not prevent them from becoming metros should assessments show that they met the criteria in future. The six metropoles comprise 41% of all currently registered voters. November 22 to 26, 1999: The Board completes its consideration of views and representations on category A and C municipalities, determines the boundaries of all category A and C municipalities and publishes the section 21 notice in provincial gazettes. Objections are to be submitted by January 31, November, 1999: The Board publishes draft boundaries for category B municipalities on the internet. Between November 1999 and January 2000: The Board holds 147 public hearings on demarcation throughout the country. To enhance public participation and gather public views and comments on the boundary options, 19

25 Shaping South Africa the Board uses community facilitators as chairpersons at the public hearings. The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) is appointed to provide the chairpersons, secure venues and project manage certain aspects of the hearing logistics. December 15, 1999: The Board finalises its determinations of category B municipalities. A number of category A and C boundaries are also redetermined as a result of the category B boundary process. December 20 to 22, 1999: Section 21 notices appear in the relevant government gazettes with regard to category B municipalities. The closing date for objections is January 31, As at February 15, 2000: The Board has received a total of submissions on, and objections to, demarcation. 20

26 The Demarcation Process After considering all the objections, the Board redetermines the boundaries of all category A, B and C municipalities and also publishes proposed boundaries for cross boundary municipalities and declares a number of district management areas. The final determination results in the following number of municipalities per category: The Board had taken great care to match each municipality against the following principles: There is geographical contiguity. There is greater scope for the development of capacity. There is a greater sharing of resources. Municipalities are more manageable in size. There is greater financial, administrative and social functionality. Notwithstanding this, though, the reality in South Africa is that the effects of apartheid were not the same across the South African landscape. No matter how the boundaries were redrawn, and as large parts of the country had never had any form of local government, the end result of the demarcation process would have many municipalities still without access to human and other municipal resources. The following tables show these effects quite well. The tables show firstly the racial and then expenditure differences between the new local municipalities, ranked according to their classification on a scale of one to seven from more highly resourced to those that were completely new with no existing tradition of local government within their boundary. 21

27 Shaping South Africa The first table shows that the less resourced municipalities (Class 5, 6 and 7) are largely African and the second table shows they are also the municipalities where there had historically been very little expenditure on municipal functions. 22

28 The Demarcation Process End February and early March 2000: Relevant notices are published in provincial gazettes. May 30, 2000: The Board considers new information on a number of boundaries that suggest that outer boundaries should be changed. The Board makes corrections to outer boundaries in some cases, and in a few instances allows a further 30 days for the public to provide written comment on these boundaries. July 7, 2000: The Cross Boundary Act of 2000 is promulgated and the Board determines the boundaries of the cross boundary municipalities. The creation of such municipalities was a difficult and emotional process because such municipalities fell into two provinces. The difficulty emerged because during the constitution-making process, prior to the 1994 elections, a set of compromises were reached between the many parties which created provincial boundaries which often split communities. In many cases a white town was split from black townships or villages, which were functionally linked. After the 1994 elections, a whole set of protests broke out where communities demanded that the provincial boundaries should change to unite these communities. For a variety of reasons, national government decided not to change provincial boundaries but instead agreed that provision would be made for municipalities to straddle provincial boundaries and hence unite them. Deciding on these cross-boundary municipalities was therefore difficult and resulted in many emotionally-inspired arguments for and against such boundaries. September 29, 2000: The Board publishes its final declaration in the Government Gazette and declares various areas as district management areas. 23

29 Shaping South Africa Municipalities per province 24

30 CHAPTER FOUR INTERACTING WITH THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA The Consultation Process The Board took a decision soon after it was inaugurated to emphasise the need for consultation during the demarcation process. The Board is required by law only to send out notices of demarcations to stakeholders but the members felt that going to municipalities and holding workshops at district level was vital. It was important to ensure that the Board was not just executing its mandate but, given the emotions around boundaries, that it was seen to be executing its mandate after community consultation, no matter how uninformed such consultation was, says Sutcliffe. Board Member Rosemary Monyamane argues that public hearings were really empowering for local people. They gave people the opportunity to participate in the process It was empowering to see how some of the formerly white municipalities that had lots of resources were prepared to assist municipalities that didn t have anything. In most cases people were very supportive and eager for change because they realised it was for the better. Of course, the Board still came under criticism for not consulting enough. Letters in newspapers throughout the country accused the Board of not taking decisions transparently and not consulting with individual local forums in small communities. The Board was accused particularly of not consulting sufficiently with certain groups of traditional leaders. Board member Robert Cameron describes an attack by one member of the public who said that the Demarcation Board was like Jesus Christ a figure that you hear about, but never see. Perhaps some criticism was warranted. Board member Khosi Ramovha says that in retrospect the consultation held with communities was possibly insufficient, particularly in rural areas that had limited access to the media. Some communities still don t understand demarcation because much of our communication was via the media. I would like to see the Board having provincial offices so that people can have more access to it. People on the ground must be able to articulate their own views. 25

31 Shaping South Africa However, the Board remains confident that throughout its term of office it took extensive measures to ensure that there was consultation with stakeholders. To ensure that this consultation took place Board members travelled extensively throughout South Africa. Although the travel costs were particularly high in 1999 as a result of the travelling, the Board had taken a decision when it was first formed that members, including the chair, were only allowed to travel economy class and the Board would only pay for them to use class B rental vehicles. As a result, Yunus Carrim, the chair of the portfolio committee on provincial and local government, would quip that if he asked for a lift from Sutcliffe he knew that he was going to be driving in a little tin car. The fact that the organisational structure of the Demarcation Board had not been put in place before the demarcation process got underway meant that Sutcliffe travelled to many meetings alone and even took his own minutes. However, he had been set a deadline and, in his own words: One strength that I have is that when I know I have got to do something by a certain date, I make sure I do it by that date. Even Sutcliffe admits that he pushed everyone very hard in the early months. If you had interviewed my colleagues in the early days they would have said that I was running things so fast but there was no other alternative. I believe that when you have a job to do you do it professionally, but you do it fast. Throughout the process consultation with stakeholders was a key aspect. The Board formed a committee of representatives from the South African Local Government Association (Salga) and its provincial affiliates, provincial ministers, the national minister and representatives from the Department of Provincial and Local Government, representatives from other affected national departments, elected officials, the National Council of Provinces and national and provincial Houses of Traditional Leaders. This committee met on a monthly basis to enable the Board to give information to stakeholders as well as to discuss issues. I don t think any other independent agency connected to government has been that consultative across party political lines and across all levels of governance, says Sutcliffe. It certainly meant that no one could argue that they were not part of the process. People might not have been happy with our decisions but at least they were informed. Board members and staff spent an extensive amount of time travelling around South Africa in order to consult with communities. Sutcliffe, as a full-time 26

32 Interacting with the People of South Africa Board member, had agreed to the position on the basis that he would be able to commute from Durban rather than having to move to Pretoria. But it probably made no difference because so much of his time was spent in other parts of South Africa anyway. On average he travelled to at least three provinces every week for three years, met with all provincial executives, most national cabinet members, political parties, traditional leaders, kings and queens and addressed over 200 conferences and community meetings on demarcation. The deputy chair of the Board, Nkaro Mateta says that the Board tried to consult as much as possible and also tried not to do things in a way that would upset people or in a way that suggested it was demarcating along political lines. Bushy Maape reflects on a meeting held on the amalgamation of Marble Hall and Groblersdal: The meeting was delayed because people were waiting for a lawyer to make a presentation. When he did arrive he said nothing at all about demarcation. The people were amazed when they discovered that I spoke Afrikaans so much so that I could even use technical language about demarcation. They even admitted at our next meeting that the lawyer was of no help whatsoever. Much of the consultation time, according to another Board member Prince Dludla, was spent explaining the issues around demarcation, justifying why the boundaries are where they are and encouraging people to object, but not in an emotional way. People often felt rushed as the Board members travelled the country trying to consult and communicate with as many people as possible. Board member Jacqueline Subban says: People felt rushed, but we really were between a rock and a hard place because of the time frame that we were faced with. At least we had initial viewpoints from people and we did have bilaterals with a number of people. In fact, I am still marvelling at the fact that we pulled it off. There is still some work to be done in certain areas where boundaries were particularly contentious. One has to remember that things like boundaries are very controversial. Confrontations Boundary demarcations are highly emotive issues because, in the words of Dludla, it is very difficult for two people to agree on a boundary especially if it affects both of them. As a result, members of the public often angrily 27

33 Shaping South Africa confronted Board members and some members even had their lives threatened. Boundaries are about land and they affect the power bases of people, continues Dludla. Mateta was accused on one occasion of being biased when the Board linked a village in Limpopo with a town about 50 kilometres away. The village is rural and the town was the nearest. We were making sure that the village survived, but people were saying we were biased, says Mateta. Sutcliffe remembers attending a meeting in the Wilderness on the Garden Route of the Cape Province. They were very unhappy because of the way they had been treated in the past. When I walked in, there was this deathly hush as people thought this is the enemy. At a meeting in Beaufort West, Sutcliffe was told threateningly that he would go down in history for destroying the Little Karoo. Mlokoti describes one meeting with the Sakisizwe municipality where the community closed the doors to the hall in which they were meeting and said they wanted to hold hostage a staff member of the Board. They told me to leave and come back for her when the boundary had been redrawn. I had to promise that we would attend to their problems. Cameron faced such an irate member of the community at a meeting at which the Board was talking about its recommendation to remove the Sedgefield municipality. I thought that he was going to hit me. I started to work out whether I should duck left or right. At one meeting with traditional leaders Sutcliffe was accused of visiting the rural areas at night in helicopters and drawing maps to take away peoples land. Mateta says that the Board was also criticised when it attempted to bring together different ethnic groups or tribes within one municipality. We tried to integrate communities that had been divided during apartheid. This often sparked a lot of discussion and some groups even took the Board to court but were unsuccessful. Board members describe KwaZulu-Natal as a particularly difficult province in which to work. This was partly due to the confrontations with traditional leaders in the province. Says Mlokoti: A meeting in KwaZulu-Natal and more so in Ulundi was not an easy meeting. 28

34 Interacting with the People of South Africa On one occasion, several Board members attended a meeting with traditional leaders in Ulundi and found on arrival that the resolutions from the meeting that was about to begin had already been compiled and were being handed out to those attending the meeting. The resolutions had already been taken despite what we came there to say, Dludla says. Khosi Ramovha, a traditional leader himself, said that he found the KwaZulu- Natal meetings difficult partly because he could not understand Zulu and the people attending meetings refused to speak English. There was one meeting that we attended in Ulundi. I was very scared. [IFP leader Mangosuthu] Buthelezi was there. It was difficult for the chair and me because no one was speaking English. In a particularly scathing attack on Sutcliffe, KwaZulu-Natal s Minister for Social Welfare and Population Development Prince Gideon Zulu described the Demarcation Board chair as a white communist chosen by a black government to do dirty work among the amakhosi (Mthethwa 2000). A report in the Natal Witness stated: Zulu accused Sutcliffe of having neither consulted nor listened to the views of the amakhosi. Like the British colonialists before him, he thinks he can just issue orders and impose decisions, he said. Zulu s own political party, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), subsequently rebuked him at a meeting in Ulundi. Striving to Be Independent Complaints about political affiliation were levelled at members of the Board, and Sutcliffe in particular, during the demarcation process. They had, however, been a focus since the appointments were announced. Responding to news of Sutcliffe s appointment, in particular, media reported that there was criticism from other political parties. The New National Party, Democratic Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party expressed concern following Sutcliffe s appointment on Wednesday that there will always be doubt and suspicion about the Board s independence given Sutcliffe s history as a high profile ANC local government policy formulator. (Business Day 1999) At the inaugural meeting of the Board, at which provincial ministers and others greeted new members, the minister of local government for KwaZulu- Natal said that the Board was supposed to be apolitical, something that he did not believe Sutcliffe could be. 29

35 Shaping South Africa The resistance from some sectors to the Board working in KwaZulu-Natal continued throughout the process. Dludla says: When we started there was a lot of resistance because there was a feeling that the ANC was trying to steamroll its policies in the rest of the country, but all that the Demarcation Board was doing was implementing policies and laws. Cameron says that there were also many complaints that the demarcation process in the Western Cape was gerrymandered. However, he says: I am sure that we did a pretty good job with the outer boundaries. With the ward delimitations there were legal requirements and time constraints and we tried to at least come up with something that would work. There certainly was no malicious intent, but if we had had substantially more time we could perhaps have done things differently. Interestingly, most local complaints came from ANC functionaries because most transitional municipalities were in the control of the ANC and therefore they had the most to lose through the reduction in the number of municipalities. Despite the complaints and criticisms, however, the Board held regular discussions with leaders of all the major political parties and Sutcliffe says that no party leader ever attempted to influence the decisions of the Board. The leaders never accused the Board of becoming a lackey of government or said that we had produced an IFP, ANC or DA boundary. Sutcliffe believes that this was due to a reputation the Board achieved through discussions with every political party, every provincial government minister, national parliamentarians and key members of parliament across party political lines. Other Objections Not all objections to boundaries were politically-based. Some were concerned with economics. In several parts of the country, former white areas objected to being combined with informal settlements. However, the Board members based their decisions on criteria that included where people work and earn a living. Communities also argued over boundaries in order to include poorer areas under their jurisdiction because it would result in a bigger grant from treasury 30

36 Interacting with the People of South Africa for the provision of essential services such as water, electricity and roads. Dludla describes a heated meeting concerned with the location of a township in Gauteng. Johannesburg officials argued that the township should be included into the Johannesburg area because they were ready to provide the required services for the township and had the budget for it. They argued that by providing proper services it would be possible to generate economic growth in the township. Officials from the neighbouring Ekurhuleni area, however, argued that the township should be included in their area. They reasoned that they needed the township because otherwise they would have fewer resources in their area. Board members questioned: How should the Demarcation Board make the decision? Should we award the township to an area where it will contribute more but may not be properly serviced in which case it will decline? Or do we award it to an area that says they are well and ready to provide the services? Dludla had to chair the heated discussion in which both arguments really made sense. At the end of the day, the Board awarded the area to Johannesburg, but agreed that the township should fall under Ekurhuleni when the latter was sufficiently established to provide services to the township. Bushy Maape notes that at a meeting in Hartbeespoort I met a university professor. I thought that because of what she had been exposed to she would have been liberal, but she was really quite conservative. The community at Hartbeespoort was also rejecting the new system of local government. Board members often had to deal with a range of issues, some of which had nothing to do with demarcation. Rosemary Monyamane remembers one meeting in Ekangala where people were up in arms about the pre-paid electricity system. They were used to having free electricity and were also against being forced to use the pre-paid system rather than the conventional one. It was quite an exercise to explain to them that people have to pay for services and can t just get things for free. Other heated debates happened in a number of rural areas where people were concerned about the location of ward boundaries. Traditional leaders argued that if their subjects were not in the same ward as themselves they would be handed over to another traditional leader. Ramovha describes a meeting where people from Limpopo argued about communities from different ethnic backgrounds being combined into one 31

37 Shaping South Africa municipality. I told them that demarcation was not about what I want and that it was a decision of the Board. Our job was to integrate people. Mlokoti describes being asked to attend a meeting in Qakeni but being warned beforehand that he was going to be physically beaten. I felt that my life was under threat because I was going to be the only member of the Board who would be there. Police were deployed in casspirs and at the end of the meeting when a group of people ran toward me I had to be escorted out by the police. Traditional Leaders A significant amount of time dealing with the community was spent trying to resolve the conflict that emerged around traditional leaders and demarcation. Sutcliffe says that the Board members spent so many hours addressing the concerns of traditional leaders that every House of Traditional Leaders was consulted and Sutcliffe himself addressed over 90% of all traditional leaders at one or other point in the process. Often the issues raised by traditional leaders were concerned with matters relating to constitutional provisions, which could not be solved by the Board, rather than with demarcation. These included concerns about the powers and functions of traditional leaders. The Constitution recognises the importance of traditional leaders but it does not define their role in the democratic South Africa. With the Demarcation Board attempting to bring all role players into one political system, it became the target for much criticism, including some that had nothing to do with the Board or the demarcation process. Some traditional leaders argued that people in rural areas would have to pay high rates after the demarcation process was complete and that as a result of demarcation land was being taken away from rural people. In one such instance, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Lionel Mtshali was quoted in the media as criticising the demarcation process because tribal land under the control of amakhosi was being threatened by preying vultures who wanted to devour it. (Khumalo and Cooper 1999) There were various attempts to persuade traditional leaders that the demarcation process was separate to the process around defining the powers and role of traditional leaders. 32

38 Interacting with the People of South Africa The chairman of Parliament s portfolio committee on Provincial and Local Government, Yunus Carrim said in January 2000 that many of the issues that were being raised at the time by amakhosi were not new and had been discussed during the Conference for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) and the multi-party negotiations between 1991 and 1994 and during the finalisation of the Constitution. We see our aim as seeking reconciliation between traditional authorities and local government traditional leaders have an extremely important role to play in ensuring democracy and development. Carrim added that there is nothing mutually exclusive about municipalities and tribal authorities. (Segar 2000) People from the Phokeng tribe in the North West Province responded negatively to the Board during a meeting held in Rustenberg. Bushy Maape recalls: People did not reject demarcation per se but rather a new kind of local government. They felt that it would reduce their influence and power. The traditional authorities from Phokeng tribe said that they had enough money to do their own development. In addition, they had conducted elections for the King s council and regarded that as the local democratic structure. President Thabo Mbeki used his state of the nation address early in 2000 to assure traditional leaders about the demarcation process. Once again, I would like to assure our traditional leaders, whose representatives around our country I will see during the coming weeks, that the demarcation process bears no relationship whatsoever to, and has no negative impact on, their role and powers. (Phahlane 2000) Mlokoti warmly describes how former President Nelson Mandela rescued him during a meeting with traditional leaders in Bumbane in the Eastern Cape that Mandela was attending as an elder in the community. During the first session I explained what demarcation was all about. I was standing next to Madiba and I expected him to be sympathetic to the concerns of the traditional leaders. The traditional leaders saw the meeting as an opportunity to attack the Board and me. Then Madiba asked if any tribal authority present thought they could perform functions and services better than a municipality. None of them responded to the question but were rather lamenting about lacking the budget. However, Madiba told them to answer the question and tell how they could provide the same services as municipalities. He came to my rescue and the attention became focused on service delivery rather than on demarcation. 33

39 Shaping South Africa Attempting to address the same issue, Sutcliffe wrote in the Sunday Tribune (2000): The media, and even some traditional leaders, have often wrongly claimed that it is the demarcation of the municipal boundaries which is in dispute. The reality is, however, quite different and very constructive meetings between the board and traditional leaders continue to be held in KwaZulu- Natal. These meetings have allowed traditional leaders to change their views on where the boundaries of municipalities surrounding their areas should be and has allowed the Board to adjust boundaries to ensure there is improved functionality in the new municipal government system. Khosi Ramovha says that the impression that was created in the media was that the municipalities would take over from traditional leaders. It was a big job to change that idea. My colleagues were scared that their powers were going to be taken away, but when I explained things to them their role became clear. Mlokoti says that the biggest difficulty that he faced in the Eastern Cape was to ensure that traditional leaders understood the demarcation process. To them, it was as if we were demarcating traditional authority boundaries. They felt that the work done by the Board would result in them being dethroned and replaced by councillors. Ramovha says that he was accused in one meeting of being a sell-out but when he explained about the provisions of the legislation and the work that the Board was required to do, people generally understood. With regard to dealing with traditional leaders the Board had to consider sensitivities of traditional leaders relating to dealing with women. As a result Board Member Jacqueline Subban did not play a role at all in discussions with traditional leaders. The Board had to consider how to get in to meetings without antagonising the traditional leaders from the word go. We decided that we needed to be softer in our approach because we didn t have a lot of time to go about building relationships. We needed to get the job done. The Board s work was made more difficult by the fact that there are also contesting claims in some cases around who the traditional leaders are and in some provinces the issue of landless traditional leaders has not yet been resolved. In addition, there are huge developmental challenges in areas of traditional rural communities. Consideration of the backlogs in traditional areas in terms of access to potable water, electricity, telephones and sanitation as a percentage of total provincial backlogs shows that in the Eastern Cape 50% 34

40 Interacting with the People of South Africa to 60% of the backlogs are in traditional areas, in KwaZulu-Natal 60% to 80%, Limpopo 70% to 90%, Mpumalanga 40% to 60%, North West 40% to 60% and in the Free State 20% to 30% of all backlogs are in traditional areas. Number of traditional authorities, according to government records: Eastern Cape 186 Free State 12 KwaZulu-Natal 277 Mpumalanga 47 Limpopo 189 Not all traditional leaders opposed the demarcation process. The KwaZulu- Natal leader of the ANC-aligned Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa), Inkosi Zibuse Mlaba said that he could not understand the fuss about the issue of traditional leaders and demarcation. He also felt that there had been sufficient consultation between the Board, traditional leaders and other stakeholders. (Makele 2000) North-West 62 In another report Mlaba stated: I believe the solution will be the establishment of municipalities in rural areas. I believe amakhosi and municipalities could work together to improve the lives of people. Rather than resist, amakhosi should welcome the process as it will give some credibility to some traditional areas. (Khumalo and Sapa 2000) Ramovha, himself a traditional leader from Limpopo, says: Some traditional leaders thought the demarcation process was going to usurp them of their powers. But demarcation has nothing to do with the powers and functions of traditional leaders. It had to do with service delivery. In debating the issue of demarcation with traditional leaders, the Board put forward the view that the new municipal demarcations extended the sphere of influence of traditional leaders because instead of being confined to 6% of the land surface, the municipalities within which traditional leaders fell covered some 29% of South Africa s land area. Sutcliffe believes that the Board succeeded in changing the mindset of many traditional leaders. We forced traditional leaders to think about their little pocket of land. We forced them to think that they can become part of the bigger system. 35

41 Shaping South Africa At one meeting in Durban, Sutcliffe says traditional leaders were fighting for scraps of land in Umbumbulu. I said to them: What about Durban? You were moved away from the Bluff. Why are you only interested in the area to which you were forcibly removed? What about the place where your forefathers lived? Ramovha says the Board tried as far as possible to ensure that no traditional authority was divided into two municipalities. We didn t want to create unnecessary tension. However, there are disputes over land in many areas that made the task more difficult. The policy was also more difficult to apply in the case of ward boundaries as traditional areas vary enormously in terms of the number of voters. However, as a result of the tension that developed around this issue, President Mbeki and Minister for Provincial and Local Government, Sydney Mufamadi intervened enabling the Board to continue its work and meet its tight deadlines. One newspaper reported: Sutcliffe believes that this capacity to request that the President assist in giving us guidance has greatly helped the Board in its work. The Board has had to work with very diverse constituencies and we have had to engage on political issues, he says. But we have also been able to request that the President assist in giving us guidance when dealing with concerns that are not about demarcation but are rather about people s political role, status and functions and are expressed via demarcation. It helps to be able to say to the president and the minister that those are matters that have to be taken up politically. (Harper 2000) As a result President Thabo Mbeki did, however, request the Board to revisit the alignment of traditional areas to municipal boundaries. The Board sent a letter to all premiers, MECs, chairpersons of the national and provincial Houses of Traditional Leaders, Contralesa, kings and queens on September 4, 2000 requesting any further submissions they wished the Board to consider. The Board also reviewed all submissions that had previously been made which dealt with traditional areas. Where the Board was able to make adjustments, which were within the law and enhanced the election process and the development of a sound system of local government, it did so. It was, however, appreciated that in some cases a single traditional leader could have jurisdiction over six different parcels of land hundreds of kilometres apart and it was impossible to ensure that all such parcels were included in a single municipality. 36

42 Interacting with the People of South Africa The Board discovered during the various meetings and interactions that traditional leaders fell into two groups. The first continued to argue that until the president addressed the question of the functions and powers of traditional leaders with regard to municipal governance they would not discuss the issue of demarcation. This group was relatively small but no changes could be made to their areas as they did not provide any suggestions. The second group approached the Board as a result of which the outer boundaries of more than 20 municipalities were aligned so that they might fall within a particular municipal jurisdiction. In addition, 54 wards in more than ten traditional areas in the Eastern Cape were changed, 48 wards affecting 30 traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal, eight traditional leaders in 35 wards in the North West, six traditional leaders in 18 wards in Limpopo and over ten wards and a number of traditional leaders in Mpumalanga. The Board believes that by continuing to engage with traditional leaders the Board was able to diffuse what could have been very ugly confrontations. In Conclusion The complaints and criticisms aside, at the end of the demarcation process, Sutcliffe and his team were generally well regarded for the work that they had done. Even Sutcliffe s opponents believed that the Board was doing the job well. As one senior IFP parliamentarian puts it: We might not agree with what he (Sutcliffe) is doing but he does do it well. KwaZulu-Natal DP MP and party local government spokesman Mark Lowe describes Sutcliffe as a particularly successful Board chairman. He has certainly gone out and done the job he was appointed to do within the timeframe he was set, says Lowe. I don t think anyone should underestimate how difficult this has been, with incredibly tight deadlines, disaffected voters, amakhosi and the whole IFP issue. (Harper 2000) 37

43 CHAPTER FIVE DELIMITATION OF WARDS After finalising the boundaries of municipalities, the Municipal Demarcation Board was required to finalise the delimitation of wards for the December 5, 2000 election, as required by the Constitution, which states (Section 157(4)): If the electoral system includes ward representation, the delimitation of wards must be done by an independent authority operating according to procedures and criteria described by national legislation. The procedures and criteria are detailed in the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act of The legislation requires that wards must be delimited in such a manner so as to ensure that each ward within a municipality has more or less the same number of voters. This is somewhat difficult in sparsely populated areas but the legislation makes provision for a deviation of 15% to allow for this difficulty. The Local Government: Municipal Structures Act requires that the number of councillors be determined by a formula or different formulae for each category of municipality. This formula is published by the minister and is based on the number of voters registered on the municipal segment of the national common voters roll, which is compiled by the IEC. The MEC for local government then determines the number of councillors for each municipality. Once this has been determined, the Board divides the number of councillors by two to allow for proportional and ward representation. Half of the number of councillors therefore represent wards. The Board then determined a norm by dividing the total number of registered voters by the number of wards to ensure that each ward had approximately the same number of voters. Each municipality with seven or more councillors was subsequently delimited into wards ensuring that the number of registered voters in each ward did not vary more than 15% from the norm. The Municipal Structures Act (1998) specifies a number of criteria that the Board has to take into consideration when delimiting wards. These include the need to avoid as far as possible the fragmentation of communities; the objective of a ward committee, which is to enhance participatory democracy in local government; the availability and location of a suitable place or places 39

44 Shaping South Africa for voting and the safety and security of voters and election material and identifiable ward boundaries. In its planning the Board made provision for the following broad timeframes for the delimitation process: Though the legislation only requires that ward boundaries be published for public objections within a period of 14 days, the Board opted for a more elaborate consultation process within very tight timeframes. The delimitation process was kickstarted by the Board releasing a discussion document that deals with the process to be embarked on in finalising ward boundaries and data on the number of registered voters and existing councillors in each municipal area. This enabled stakeholders to debate the issues April 18: Ward hearings April 20: Submission of reports to the Municipal Demarcation Board April 25: The Board considers submissions May 3: Ward boundaries are published for objections May 17: The deadline for objections May 29: Final ward boundaries are published because there is no general formula to provide a useful starting point to debate the number of councillors and, by implication, the number of wards there should be. The debate was essential because this process would result in a somewhat different situation to the one that existed in the 1995/1996 elections. Previously the demarcation of outer boundaries and of wards was largely undertaken at a provincial level resulting in differences between provinces in terms of the size of municipalities, the average number of seats per municipality and the number of voters per councillor. The Board subsequently made available to the public draft ward boundaries on April 10, 2000 and then held public hearings throughout South Africa to further enhance public participation in the delimitation process. The hearings offered the Board the opportunity to explain the ward delimitation process and request stakeholders and the public to make their own suggestions on the delimitation of wards in specific municipalities. In four provinces Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape over 50% of the councils had less than 500 voters per councillor. In the Free State and North West, over 50% of the councils had between 500 and voters per councillor, while in Gauteng and Mpumalanga over 50% of the councils had between and voters. In Limpopo over 50% of the councils had over voters per councillor. 40

45 Delimitation of Wards After publishing the final ward boundaries in early May and allowing for two weeks of objections, the Board met and considered over 700 objections responding to its delimitation of wards. Any objection that did not satisfy the criterion that wards must be within 15% of the norm for each ward was rejected. The boundaries of all the wards were gazetted between June 6 and 10, Some technical corrections were subsequently published. Number of councillors and wards: 1995/1996 and 2000 local government elections 41