BARBERTON – Tension is running high after the announcement of the merging of various municipalities by the demarcation board.
Umjindi Local Municipality (ULM) has started interacting with community members in various wards regarding the proposed changes.
Mpumalanga News learnt that this had raised tension among residents as it had been proposed that ULM be merged with Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM).
Various community members gave their views.
Some residents indicated that they didn’t want their town to be merged with MLM as they didn’t want to face service- delivery nightmares as was the case with residents of KaBokweni, Hazyview and Pienaar under MLM.
One resident who spoke to this publication, Mr Sabelo Sambo said,
“It’s a waste of money and as Barbertonians, we don’t want to be under Mbombela. People from that side are struggling to get good services.”
This publication also learnt that Umjindi Community Forum (UCF) was opposing the proposal.
The chairperson of the forum, Mr Christopher “Tiwawa” Fakude, said,
“We understand that at this stage it’s a proposal, but we want to set the record straight that Umjindi will not merge with Mbombela. We feel that it would affect the good record that our municipality has when it comes to good service delivery.
“What happened at Malamulele a few weeks ago, will happen here. If they will continue and implement the plan, we are going to protest by burning tyres and this town would be ungovernable” concluded Fakude.
The demarcation board is planning to merge 10 municipalities across the province.
The proposal to merge non-viable municipalities with viable ones would assist the struggling municipalities to fulfil their mandate of service delivery and to become financially sustainable
