By Tabisa Mntengwana
09 December 2009

THE second phase of Buffalo City’s ward delimitation process on the road to becoming a metro kicked off in King William’s Town and Mdantsane, with cluster meetings held to find consensus from various wards.

The meeting in Mdantsane on Monday, 7 December, started with a welcome address by the portfolio head for corporate services, Sizwe Dikimolo. “This is the second phase where we would like to find out what you have come up with since our last meetings,” he said.

The King William’s Town meeting was chaired by the council Speaker, Luleka Simon. “We are here to honour our promise that we would report back to your concerning your proposals from the November meetings.”

The meeting was also held on Monday, at the Town Hall, at 10am.

With the theme “Seeking consensus for new ward boundaries for the BCM metro in 2011”, the first phase of the process was public consultations on the proposed new ward boundaries.

As advised by the Municipal Demarcation Board, the City earlier consulted communities and local stakeholders on the boundaries. “We have until 18 December this year to make comments and find general consensus on these proposed wards,” Dikimolo said at a previous meeting.

The last cluster meeting was held at the East London City Hall on Wednesday, 9 December at 10am. The ward delimitation process is held in preparation for Buffalo City achieving metro status in 2011.

At the second phase cluster meetings, communities’ needs regarding their wards were finalised, before the municipality submits their comments. According to a municipal report, the consultations will help the municipality find a way forward in clustering wards “with the feedback received from the residents”.

During the meetings the communities and their ward councillors agreed on the new proposed maps; in some areas a few changes to the maps were made.

Speaking at the Mdantsane meeting, Dikimolo said: “The wards that are not in agreement with the proposed wards will have to sign and submit their concerns to the board by completing a Form MDB 3.”

Regarding the wards where a general consensus had been reached at previous meetings, a green map with the new proposed boundaries would be submitted to the board, with a Form MDB 2 attached to the map.

After the second phase, a report will be compiled and submitted to the Municipal Demarcation Board. The MDB forms will also be submitted. After this, the board will examine the proposals and advise the municipality of the next steps it needs to take, and visit Buffalo City to listen to the various views.

Wrapping up the Mdantsane meeting, Dikimolo said: “The comments will be submitted to the board on Friday, 18 December; we will then await [its] response to our proposals.”

A metropolitan city has a common property rating and service tariff and a single metropolitan budget. The municipality may also decentralise powers and its functions when it becomes a metro.

In metropolitan areas there is also a choice of two types of executive systems: in one, the executive authority is given to the mayor; and in the other, collective executive powers are given to the executive committee.