Question NW1195 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Reply:

The below responses are based on information provided by the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB):

a) The Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) delimit wards in accordance with the criteria provided in schedule 1 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act. The following guidelines and principles, emanating from the above-mentioned criteria, are applied by the MDB:

(i) Keep the total number of registered voters per ward, as close as possible to the norm (average number of registered voters per ward), within the minimum and maximum allowed; 

(ii) Avoid splitting obvious communities / groupings of villages / suburbs, traditional areas, etcetera, if at all possible;

(iii) Take physical characteristics into account, such as adequate road networks, and physical barriers such as a freeways, rivers, mountains, etcetera; 

(iv) Keep the existing number of wards and boundaries the same, if possible; 

(v) Use voting districts as building blocks and ensure that wards are contiguous; and

(vi) Avoid splitting voting districts, and cluster voting districts together to make up wards.

b) Ward 28 was delimited with the assistance of planning officials from the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality during the technical consultation session in September 2019. The draft ward comprised of the following voting districts:

 

NO.	VOTING DISTRICT	NO. OF REGISTERED VOTERS
1.	LD Moetanalo Secondary School	3,680
2.	Tent at Ward 28	10
3.	Olifant River Lodge	277
4.	Uitkyk Sports Ground (Tent)	443
TOTAL	4,410

 

The minimum, average and maximum norm allowed for the municipality, as follows:

 

NORM	NO. OF REGISTERED VOTERS
Minimum Norm	3,276
Average Norm	3,853
Maximum Norm	4,430

 

There were no objections lodged against ward 28 during the objection phase, and the MDB therafter resolved to confirm the ward and published its final determination in the Gazette.