The Independent Municipal Demarcation Authority (IMDA) Bill which is currently a subject of nationwide public consultation process by the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, received overwhelming support from the residents of Xhariep District Municipality in the Free State Province.

The committee conducted public hearings on the Bill yesterday in Edenburg where the residents suggested that the new demarcation body that the Bill seeks to create must establish smaller wards and municipalities that will be easy to manage for effective service delivery. They said the current arrangement of vast municipalities and wards is hindering service delivery as most of these municipalities are struggling to deliver services to the people.

The residents argued that the current arrangement of the merger of small and poor towns with no economic activities should be discontinued. They proposed that in order to create economically viable municipalities, smaller and economically poor towns should be merged with bigger ones with vibrant economies.

The committee also heard that the process of changing municipal boundaries and delimitation of wards must run concurrently with Statistics South Africa’s census for better planning purposes by government.

Committee Chairperson Mr Fikile Xasa thanked the people for attending the public hearings. He commended their participation and contribution by means of quality inputs onthe Bill. He assured them that all their views have been captured and will beconsidered when the committee deliberates on the Bill in Parliament.

The Billseeks to repeal and replace the Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Act, toalign and update the legislation with current Demarcation Board practices, andto rename the Municipal Demarcation Board to the Independent Municipal Demarcation Authority.

Today the committee will continue with public hearings in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality.

Source: Parliament of South Africa