Matatiele - Minister for Provincial and Local Government, Sicelo Shiceka, is meeting community leaders on Wednesday to conduct a consultative process with a view to resolving the demarcation of Matatiele, bordering KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
According to the Department of Provincial and Local Government's spokesperson Vuyelwa Vika, the meeting will provide representatives of all the affected stakeholders an opportunity to make submissions on what they would like to see happening with the town in relation to its location.
Residents in the small town bordering Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape, are divided on whether the town should be re-incorporated back into KwaZulu-Natal or remain in the Eastern Cape.
Matatiele had been in KwaZulu-Natal before government's process of re-demarcation of municipal and provincial boundaries in 2006 saw it being incorporated into the Eastern Cape.
Ms Vika said the meeting on Wednesday formed part of a consultative process the minister embarked on in all the areas where government's boundary re-demarcation process of 2006 remains a contentious issue since coming into office.
Ms Vika explained that in some communities the opposition to being placed in a different municipal or provincial area had led to a total breakdown of normal life due to protest action by residents.
The collection of residents' views on the issue is the beginning of a process that will culminate in government making a final decision on the areas, which will in all cases be informed by the will of the majority through various stages of the process.
Ms Vika has also confirmed that local dynamics will in all instances be taken into account in finding a sustainable solution that will lead to the resumption of normal life in all the affected areas.
Minister Shiceka's office is also dealing with cross-boundary conflict in Merafong in the North West with the majority of residents wanting to be re-incorporated into Gauteng.
Ga-Mothibi Municipality in the North West has also been a troubled area with some residents wanting to go back to the Northern Cape as well as the Moutse Municipality in Limpopo with the community divided between remaining in Limpopo or being re-incorporated in Mpumalanga.
The process in Merafong is at an advanced stage with the area set to be re-incorporated back into Gauteng as soon as all legal and statutory processes have been finalized.
In November 2008, Minister Shiceka said the situation in Merafong (Khutsong) called for swift government action to deal with the issues the community was not happy about.
He said the process of re-demarcation of these municipalities had to be preceded by a thorough public participation engagement process.
He said consulting community members was to find a lasting solution to the issues which have led to the level of social and economic instability and through this process government wanted to see the matter reach closure within the applicable legal and legislative requirements
