Community in two minds on merger
Many hope joining with Camdeboo and Ikwezi will boost Baviaans but mayor sees trouble brewing, writes
Avuyile Mngxitama-Diko
THE single-lane stretch of road between Steytlerville and Willowmore is the very embodiment of smalltown living. It is dead quiet, underdeveloped and the only link between the remote farming towns at the centre of a municipal merger which is likely to see the Eastern Cape’s main opposition party, the DA, lose the only council it controls in the province. By August this year the Baviaans municipality – which includes Steytlerville and Willowmore – will merge with the ANC’s well-run Camdeboo, 174km away, and Ikwezi municipality, which is on the brink of collapse.
The decision by the municipal demarcations board has divided the people of Baviaans with the ruling DA leadership and its supporters saying the move could spell disaster for governance.
Municipal workers and some residents, however believe the merger could breathe life into the sleepy towns and could offer the 17 000 people of Baviaans opportunities for development.
At least 70% of the Baviaans’s adult population is unemployed, according to the municipality, with only the Baviaans Nature Reserve, a few shops and eateries and farms offering job opportunities.
Daisy Ehlers, who manages a takeaway shop, says the situation is so dire that, after 10 years in Willowmore, she has no choice but to move to Nelson Mandela Bay to live with her children.
“I hope they can change things around,” she said adding that she hoped some development would take place.
Steytlerville resident and mother of three Brenda Witbooi said a spaza shop owned by a Somali national was her only shopping option.
“When we want to buy children’s clothes we have to travel to Uitenhage [150km away] or Willowmore.
“The taxi [which costs R180 for a return trip per person to Uitenhage] leaves at 7am. If you miss it you have to book for another day.” Witbooi said.
Steytlerville is a scenic, traditionally religious community with about 30 churches for its 6 000 people. It is clean and well maintained, a state mayor Ewald Loock believes could be compromised by the merger.
“I have been the mayor of Baviaans since 2000, when Steytlerville and Willowmore merged. I know the problems of a merger. This municipality is financially viable on it’s own,” Loock said.
A report by Johannesburg firm Wendy Ovens and Associates, commissioned by the demarcation board, also recommended that Baviaans be left out of the merger as it was financially viable and was geographically too far from the other two municipalities.
Board spokeswoman Bulelwa MbaliKhoele said while they considered the report, the board decided to go ahead with the merger, based on several other written submissions from residents, public meeting reports and other sources of information.
Loock believes amalgamating the municipalities would make things worse for people living on farms.
“Who is going to make sure those people have the services they need?
“It is difficult for us to travel to the rural nodes because the roads are bad.
“We have also had the merger of the previous district management areas, which are farms in Rietbron. There were huge financial implications with that merger in 2011 and since then we haven’t fully recovered financially,” Loock said.
South African Municipal Workers Union chairman in Baviaans, Gerhard Davids, has thrown the union’s support behind the merger, believing that it will bring better pay for workers.
While Witbooi complained that there were no recreational facilities for the youth, Loock said they had invested money to build sports fields.
“We have built a rugby field and cricket pitch for Steytlerville and Willowmore. We are now busy with plans to build one for Rietbron,” he said.
Lizette de Beer, manager of community services at the municipality, said they were training the youth in computer literacy, crafts and business management.
Loock said: “I agree we have financial problems emanating from the under-funded mandates.
“It costs us R4-million every year to service the people of Rietbron. The equitable share that we get more since Rietbron has been joined with Baviaans is R700 000. This amount is not enough to cover that area.”
Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs spokesman Mamnkeli Ngam said concerns raised by the municipalities were being addressed by the political structures.