Folk divided over Matatiele ‘move’

MATATIELE mayor Momelezi Mbedla (ANC) said yesterday moving the municipality to KwaZulu-Natal may bring divisions in the community “and the municipality does not want to govern a divided community”.

He said the municipality had not been properly consulted on the move as yet as it was still a political matter between the African Independent Congress and the ANC.

“In 2005 there was a lot of resistance from some in the community as there were those who preferred KZN and those who preferred Eastern Cape. The community was heavily divided and again we will have to deal with a divided community,” he said.

Mbedla said he had been told only on Thursday that the cabinet had resolved to start the consultation process. The local municipality was not aware of what shape or form this process would take.

This week Communications Minister Mmoloko Kubayi announced that the cabinet had resolved to start the public consultation process in Matatiele over that municipality’s incorporation into KwaZulu-Natal.

Eastern Province Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Fikile Xasa’s spokesperson, Mamkeli Ngam, said the process would be led by Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen.

This is part of a deal the ANC had struck with African Independent Congress, following the latter’s assistance in helping the ANC maintain control over the Ekhuruleni metro council after last year’s local government election.

Business people in Matatiele preferred KZN because they felt it was better for their businesses.

Mbedla said the move would also cause inconvenience to motorists in the town who would have to change their vehicle registrations at their own cost.

African Independent Congress president Mandla Galo said yesterday that when the move happened, residents would enjoy an economic boost as well as better health services, having facilities like Pietermaritzburg’s Edendale Hospital more accessible to them.

Galo said that, apart from schools benefiting, provincial roads connecting Lesotho and Matatiele would be tarred which would mean an economic boost for the region.

“There is also the discussion of the establishment of the agricultural college.“The presidential council will visit Matatiele and there will a lot of positive changes,” he said.