The municipal council met last week to discuss their position on the proposed move of the Seat of the High Court form Grahamstown to Bhisho and decided that they are opposed to it.
Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana said that this position was taken on the basis of that Grahamstown simply “cannot see it go, as we need this facility”.
The municipal council met last week to discuss their position on the proposed move of the Seat of the High Court form Grahamstown to Bhisho and decided that they are opposed to it.
Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana said that this position was taken on the basis of that Grahamstown simply “cannot see it go, as we need this facility”.
He confirmed that they made contact with the office of the Justice Minister, Jeff Radebe to secure an appointment where they hope to be provided with some clearer reasons as to why the move has been proposed.
The Superior Courts Bill, which aims to create a single, unified High Court structure for the Eastern Cape, has received strong reactions with petitions being circulated and letters and submissions being sent to Radebe in opposition to the move.
The final version of the draft Superior Courts Bill gives the public only until Wednesday, 30 June to comment. Approaching the municipality on this concern, the Grahamstown High Court Action Committee’s chairperson, the Most Reverend Thabo Makgoba sent a letter to the Municipal Manager, Ntombi Baart and spoke of Grahamstown as a cultural, legal and educational centre.
“The city’s livelihood depends on the courts, university and the schools and it has a fragile economic base. Unemployment is already estimated to be in the region of 60 to 70% of the economically active population,” the letter read.
Makgoba said if the Bill is passed, it will bring about an economic catastrophe which will have a negative ripple effect on Grahamstown’s schools, the university, businesses and therefore the municipality itself.
Comments by the municipality’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Jackson Ncelwane and from the Directorate: Local Economic Development (LED), Riana Meiring also painted gloomy picture.
According to Ncelwane, the municipal area of jurisdiction financially depends on government departments as the main source of employment for families residing in the area.
Comments from Meiring sourced from the LED strategy which involves a situational analysis of the Integrated Development Planning process that was completed last year indicate that government services including community, personal and social services dominate the local economy in terms of Regional Gross Geographic Product (R-GDP) and employment contribution.
From the years 1995 to 2007, the sector’s R-GDP contribution increased by about R136-million from 45.1 to 51.5%.
This sector is made up of government spending in the form of municipal activities, and community services in the form of education facilities and services and its large size in Makana is due to the existence of several educational institutions that contributes to the local economy.
Ncelwane further commented that the recent economic meltdown has increased the number of people registered as indigent or poor and this drains the financial resources of the municipality.
“One of the main sources of income for the municipality is the property rates,” read the comments. Of the 403 residential properties that could be affected by the relocation, Ncelwane estimated a loss in revenue of property rates to be R785 850 per year according to the calculations of property rates from 2009/2010 financial year.
“I must emphasise that this amount is purely based on residential properties that could be affected, but not the actual government departments that may move or be vacated as well, which could be another loss in revenue for about R750 000 per annum.”
A further loss of about R800 000 per year for services such as electricity, water and refuse brings the total direct financial loss to the municipality of about R2-million.
“That is an amount that the smaller municipality of Makana with its limited rates base cannot afford to forfeit without having a plan B in place,” the comments read.
