News

The Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) embarked on nationwide public consultations on the draft sets of electoral wards in preparation for next year’s local government elections.

Municipal Demarcation Board held a consultative meeting with the community of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma Municipality in Bulwer Community which encouraged people to participate actively and express their views on how their wards should be configured. As one of the core mandates of the Municipal Demarcation Board, ward delimitation process is regarded as a crucial step towards deepening local democracy and promoting spatial transformation within communities, this has been the core element driving the organization for the past 21 years of its existence.

The MDB delimits wards for the purpose of local elections after consultations with the IEC [Electoral Commission]. Wards are delimited in all metropolitan and local municipalities. This process is deemed necessary to lay a solid foundation for the delivery of free and fair local government elections (LGE).

During the 2016 local government elections, there were 4 392 wards in the country. An additional 76 wards will bring the total number of wards to 4 468 for the 2021 local government elections.

The Municipal Demarcation Board said the process has culminated in the conclusion of the first draft sets of wards.

“We should have the comfort of knowing that the process was transparent and decisions taken have, as far as possible, embraced inputs from our stakeholders and communities,” she said.

The final list of wards will then be handed over to the IEC in August 2020.

It’s important to indicate that the Municipal Demarcation Board has no influence in the determination of the formulae and the number of councillors in a municipality, and therefore cannot increase or reduce the number of councillors determined by MECs [Members of Executive Councils]