If Phumlani residents voted in Ward 1 in the 2011 local government elections, they should still certainly be part of that ward in terms of the 2011 ward boundary determinations, according to the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB).
If Phumlani residents voted in Ward 1 in the 2011 local government elections, they should still certainly be part of that ward in terms of the 2011 ward boundary determinations, according to the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB).
Tempers flared in a special meeting convened by Council Speaker, Rachel Madinda-Isaac, last Wednesday to discuss the controversial apparent exclusion of Phumlani residents from the upcoming by-elections.
The by-elections, planned for 22 July, come as a result of the death of Ward 1 councillor Nomhle Ngoqo on 5 May.
Ngoqo, elected to the position in 2011, was a resident of Phumlani. Municipal by-elections take place 90 days after a municipal ward council seat becomes vacant due to either death, expulsion or resignation of a ward councillor.
A tent was erected for a special meeting on the Phumlani Park grounds last week, attended by Madinda-Isaac, mayor Zamuxolo Peter, acting municipal manager Mandisi Planga, and ANC councillors Nomhle Gaga, Malibongwe Khubalo, Ernest Louw, Nombulelo Masoma and Boniwe Bonani.
Responding to questions from Grocott's Mail, MDB Stakeholder Management and Media Relations Specialist, Bulelwa Mbali-Khoele, said, "We would not like to speculate on this matter.
However, if the community in that area indeed voted in that ward in 2011 they are still certainly part of the ward according to the 2011 ward boundary determinations".
Mbali-Khoele said the matter should be handled by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
"The Municipal Demarcation Board has never made any changes to ward boundaries since 2011," she added.
The current ward delimitation process has not yet been finalised and the new ward boundaries (for this current process) will only take effect in 2016, according to Mbali-Khoele.
In the meeting last week, Phumlani resident, Andile Hoyi, said the Municipal Demarcation Board and the IEC should have come to the people of Phumlani in person to tell them why they had been excluded from the by-election.
Hoyi said he would take the matter further.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail yesterday, Hoyi said the residents had formed a task team consisting of 10 members.
He said they were acting on behalf of the community and had already written to the IEC, the MDB, the Public Protector's Office and to ANC Sarah Baartman regional secretary, Scara Njadayi, telling them they would fight the decision to exclude Phumlani from the July by-election.
Hoyi said only Njadayi has responded.
He said Njadayi had told him that the ANC in its Regional Executive Committee (REC) meeting had taken a decision to reconvene the branch general meeting (BGM) to include Phumlani, pending the IEC's response.
Hoyi said if there was a misunderstanding between the IEC and the MDB, someone needed to come to the people of Phumlani and apologise.
He said they were happy with the ANC's response.
Yesterday Njadayi said they had adopted a two-fold process. He said the outcome of the initial meeting which had excluded Phumlani would not be discarded, but they would convene another BGM.
The logic behind this is that, should Phumlani be excluded, they will revert to the outcome of the initial BGM, but if Phumlani is allowed back in, the outcome of the new BGM will apply.
In the same vein, Njadayi said they are certainly fighting the exclusion of Phumlani.
"We are definitely saying those people must be part of the process, they must even be allowed to take part in the open registration," he said.
IEC Communication and Stakeholder Liaison officer, Pearl Ngoza, has promised since last Friday to respond to questions from Grocott's Mail.
Phone calls and emails to her remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
anele@grocotts.co.za
