Three local municipalities under Amathole district jurisdiction are up in arms over the planned new delimitation of their wards in the build-up to the 2026 local government elections.
The three rural councils, Amahlathi, Raymond Mhlaba and Ngqushwa, could lose a combined four wards and councillors when the new delimitation takes effect.
While the district has written to both co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) MEC Zolile Williams and his national counterpart, minister Velenkosini Hlabisa, voicing its displeasure about losing the wards, some of the municipalities have threatened to take the matter to court if the decision is not reversed.
The financially struggling municipalities say a decrease in their wards will negatively affect their revenue collection and future equitable share allocation.
Some of the wards to be lost by the Ngqushwa and Amahlathi municipalities are planned to be incorporated into existing wards in the Buffalo City metro, which will, after the demarcation process, remain with its 50 wards following the 2026 municipal elections.
According to a provincial gazette signed by Williams recently, the Raymond Mhlaba municipality, which had 23 ward councillors after the 2021 municipal elections, will see the number decrease to 21, while the Amahlathi municipality, which had 15 ward councillors after the previous local polls, will lose one ward representative.
The Ngqushwa municipality, which will forfeit one of its wards to BCM before next year’s elections, will see its ward councillors decrease from 12 to 11.
The Raymond Mhlaba municipality is also expected to lose one proportional representative councillor.
Three other ADM local councils, Mbhashe, Mnquma and Great Kei, despite a decrease in their population and registered voter figures, will keep the same wards they had after the 2021 municipal polls.
This announcement did not sit well with ADM council speaker Onke Mgunculu, who in his letter to Williams said the decrease in the number of ward councillors in the three municipalities would have a ripple effect at the district level.
Mgunculu said the District Speaker’s Forum (DSF), which is a body chaired by him and composed of all council speakers of local municipalities in the district, had discussed the implications and resolved to appeal against the decision.
“The proposed decreases would in the main prove a hindrance to effective communication and public participation, effective delivery of basic services and revenue collection for the self-sustainability of these municipalities.
“The same is true for the district municipality as it would be affected by the decline in the number of councillors at local level.
“Considering this, the DSF resolved that we appeal to the MEC to reconsider increasing the number of councillors for the Amahlathi, Ngqushwa and Raymond Mhlaba local municipalities.”
Mgunculu said the planned decrease was not justified as registered voters in both Raymond Mhlaba and Amahlathi had increased, while the decrease in registered voters in Ngqushwa was not that significant.
The Raymond Mhlaba municipality’s registered voters had increased from 82,162 in the previous polls to 83,491, while at Amahlathi they had increased from 51,641 to 52,438.
In Ngqushwa the numbers decreased slightly, from 38,017 to 37,479.
Mgunculu said to Williams: “The MEC’s attention is also drawn to the fact that the number of registered voters for both Raymond Mhlaba and Amahlathi local municipalities have increased, while the decline in Ngqushwa is not so significant.
“It is the understanding of the DSF that the MEC ... is empowered to deviate from the number of councillors determined for a municipality in terms of the formula.
“We therefore humbly appeal to the MEC to consider the appeal.”
Mgunculu said on Monday all they wanted was for the status quo to remain and the funding model for municipalities to be reviewed as it was unfair.
He said while the equitable share would decrease, the staff complement in those municipalities and service delivery challenges would remain the same, meaning those councils would have to operate the same with less money in their coffers.
Raymond Mhlaba municipality speaker Thozama Ngaye confirmed on Monday that it was considering taking legal action against the national government if the move was not reviewed and reversed.
“While our population and registered voters’ figures have increased, our grant will be reduced and thus we will subject our people to non-service delivery, resulting in an increase in protest action.
“There is no justification in this and we cannot just fold our arms and watch our people being subjected to this,” Ngaye said.
On Monday the municipality held a bosberaad in Bedford where the matter was discussed, with Ngaye saying they would convene a council meeting next week to map their way forward.
“This will create more instability as people on the ground are anxious, hence we are considering a legal route if this is not reversed.”
Attempts to get comment from Ngqushwa and Amahlathi were unsuccessful on Monday.
Williams’s spokesperson, Pheello Oliphant, said on Monday a similar situation was on the cards in the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Umzimvubu and Ingquza Hill municipalities.
He said, however, that once these envisaged changes had been gazetted, nothing could be done to change the situation.
More consultation should have been done with local communities before such a move was gazetted, he said.
“Since this has now been gazetted, there is nothing these municipalities can do as the horse has already bolted.”
However, Ngaye said he was confident the decision could still be reversed.
Neither Hlabisa nor her spokesperson, Pearl Maseko-Binqose, could be reached on Monday.
Daily Dispatch
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.