Public and stakeholder participation in the municipal demarcation process in the Collins Chabane local municipality

Abstract

The article explores the nature and extent of public and stakeholder participation in the municipal demarcation processes undertaken by the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) towards establishing Collins Chabane Local Municipality located in the Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study stems from the government’s decision that was concluded through the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs’ (CoGTA) request to the MDB to establish the new municipality under the Vhembe District Municipality after the 2016 local government elections. The establishment of the new municipality led to several challenges that emanated from the community of Vuwani, which previously formed part of the Makhado Local Municipality, as well as certain traditional councils which objected and protested the MDB’s decision to incorporate their areas into the newly established municipality. These stakeholders cited that they were not adequately consulted by the MDB before its decision to change the municipal boundary. To this end, a comprehensive review of a qualitative set of data collected from a variety of sources was selected and analysed to achieve the research objective of this article. The study revealed that various factors undermined the participatory role that communities and stakeholders should have played in the municipal demarcation processes leading towards the establishment of the municipality. Key challenges include, but are not limited to, the inadequate involvement of traditional councils on areas proclaimed as rural traditional councils; inadequate mechanisms, systems and procedures for public participation; an inability to insulate between financial sustainability and service delivery challenges; and a lack of social cohesion between different ethnicities and tribal groups. Based on the aforementioned, the study proposes appropriate interventions that government can adopt to enhance and entrench a culture of public and stakeholder participation in the municipal demarcation processes. The study argues that government alone cannot resolve demarcation problems; it requires collective action by all relevant stakeholders.