Matatiele+fights+border+change,+Business+Day




 * Business Day, Johannesburg, 09 January 2006**

=**Matatiele fights border change**=


 * Ernest Mabuza**


 * Legal Affairs Correspondent**

A COMMUNITY of about 25000 people challenged a recent boundary change in the Constitutional Court last week.

The removal of Matatiele from KwaZulu-Natal by Parliament and its incorporation into Eastern Cape circumvent the constitutional and procedural rights of people in the community, court documents say.

The community’s boundary change took place last month following the promulgation of the Constitution 12th Amendment Bill and the Cross-Boundary Municipalities Laws Repeal and Related Matters Bill.

The two acts gave government a green light to define new provincial boundaries and remove cross-border municipalities before the country’s local government election, scheduled for March 1.

The change happened at the same time as other transfers, such as the move of Merafong municipality to North West from Gauteng.

The Merafong community has also vowed to challenge the move in the Constitutional Court after violent protests failed to halt their incorporation into North West.

Lawyers contacted by Business Day could not say whether the community had a strong case as they had not read the court documents, which were only filed last week.

The Matatiele community — represented by the municipality, local chambers of commerce, the tribal authority, a local taxi association and the local farmers’ association — said the municipality was not a cross-boundary municipality and had been wholly within KwaZulu-Natal.

“Only the Municipal Demarcation Board has the power to re-determine boundaries. This power does not reside with the executive (neither national or provincial), nor Parliament, nor the provincial legislature,” the community said in its affidavit.

The redetermination of borders was flawed because it was not the result of the prescribed process involving the demarcation board, the community said.

In an affidavit, Matatiele mayor Cedric Canham said the municipality had always made representations stating its preference to remain in KwaZulu-Natal.

Questioning of the community’s provincial location began in 2003, when the demarcation board began discussing the location of Maluti settlement, which lies in Eastern Cape but has been regarded as part of Matatiele.

“Unbeknown to the municipal council and while it was engaged in a democratic and transparent process with the Municipal Demarcation Board to redetermine boundaries, it was clear that the executive had already decided the fate of Matatiele, irrespective of the conclusions of the board,” Canham said.

From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A135742