Pretoria - Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des Van Rooyen has welcomed the outcomes of the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) conference held this week, saying robust discussions were held.
The first MDB conference on demarcation and spatial transformation took place on Thursday and Friday.
“As CoGTA we believe that the conference was long overdue and we are delighted that it was able to provide a key platform that ensured facilitated engagements among all the stakeholders who attended.
“These engagements also considered how to resolve hurdles to demarcations and has made the much needed inputs to spatial transformation discourse in South Africa,” said the Minister on Friday.
For the first time, the MDB brought together national and international stakeholders in the local government sector and experts covering various sectors and fields.
This sectors included, among others, government, Parliament, senior government officials, institutions supporting democracy, research institutions, international participants and scholars, as well as all local and metropolitan municipalities.
“The openness and robustness of the discussions, were definitely able to shape the discussions around issues of demarcation in the country,” said the Minister.
Formed in 1999 as an independent authority responsible for the determination of municipal boundaries the MDB has made big steps towards deepening the country’s democracy.
However, the Minister said, MDB had not been able to effectively engage its stakeholders across the national spectrum on issues of demarcation and spatial development, especially to take stock of the positives and the negatives emanating from the processes and decisions of the board.
The conference discussed challenges facing the metropolitan system of governance and the necessity of delimiting wards every five years, as is required by legislation.
The role of ensuring sustainable cities also came under spotlight as an integral part of the demarcation process.
When coming to legislation, the meeting agreed to look at the possible changes so as to be able to address some of the current challenges as the environment has been changing over the years.
The need for increased public participation as part of a successful demarcation process was discussed.
“The conference agreed that extensive proper public participation is at the heart of the re-demarcation process and spatial transformation,” said the department.
The conference was preceded by the launch of the State of the Cities Report on Wednesday. The report focuses on cities as effective drivers of local and national development and the need for all actors to work together. – SAnews.gov.za
