20 January 2009
Minister for Provincial and Local Government, Sicelo Shiceka, has dispatched
a team from his office to conduct a consultative process with a view to
resolving the contentious demarcation issue of Matatiele in the Eastern Cape. A
meeting will be held on Wednesday, 21 January 2009, where representatives of
all the affected stakeholders will make submissions on what they would like to
see happen with the town in relation to its location.
Residents in the small town bordering the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape
provinces are divided on whether the town should be re-incorporated back into
KwaZulu-Natal or remain in the Eastern Cape. Matatiele was in KwaZulu-Natal
before government's process of re-demarcation of municipal and provincial
boundaries in 2006 saw it being incorporated into the Eastern Cape.
The meeting tomorrow forms part of a consultative process Minister Shiceka
has embarked on with all the areas where government's boundary re-demarcation
process of 2006 remains a contentious issue since he assumed office in
September 2008. In some areas the communities' opposition to being in a
different municipal or provincial area has led to a total breakdown of normal
life due to protest action by residents.
The collection of residents' views on the issue is the beginning of a
process that will culminate in government making a final decision on the areas,
which will in all cases be informed by the will of the majority through various
stages of the process.
Local dynamics will in all instances be taken into account in finding a
sustainable solution that will lead to the resumption of normal life in all the
affected areas.
Other areas Minister Shiceka's office is dealing with cross-boundary
conflict are Merafong in the North West with the majority of residents wanting
to be re-incorporated into Gauteng, Ga-Mothibi in the North West with some
residents wanting to go back to the Northern Cape and Moutse in Limpopo with
the community divided between remaining in Limpopo and being re-incorporated in
Mpumalanga. The process in Merafong is the most advanced with the area set to
be re-incorporated back into Gauteng as soon as all legal and statutory
processes have been finalised.
For more information contact:
Vuyelwa Qinga Vika
Tel: 012 334 0995/0993
Fax: 012 326 4478
Cell: 082 877 3898
E-mail: vuyelwaQ@dplg.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Provincial and Local Government
20 January 2009
Source: Department of Provincial and Local Government (http://www.thedplg.gov.za/)
