Municipal elections on March 1
2005-11-17 11:34
Pretoria - The municipal government elections are to be held on March 1 2006, Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi announced in Pretoria on Thursday.
The day falls on a Wednesday but it would be up to Cabinet to decide whether to declare it a public holiday, he said.
Mufamadi wouldn't say when he planned to proclaim the date in the Government Gazette, which would set in motion deadlines for the registration of political party candidates and the closing of the Voters' Roll.
The National Co-ordinating Committee on Local Government Elections was satisfied conditions for a successful poll were in place, he said.
The voter registration process was almost complete, relevant legislation was being finalised, and security planning was at an advanced stage.
On the disputed re-demarcation of provincial boundaries, Mufamadi said the process was not intended to disrupt lives, but to boost service delivery.
Cross-border municipalities featured prominently among those with massive infrastructural and service delivery backlog.
Many were trapped within "a structural arrangement" inherited from the apartheid era.
"Without such structural arrangements in our system, it will be now possible to use our fiscal instruments... to better effect."
Mufamadi gave the assurance that beneficiaries of government support grants would continue to receive them, irrespective of the province they resided in.
He called on people to take responsibility for their own fate by casting their vote.
"Municipal residents must remember that improved condition of life in their areas are not guaranteed without their participation in electing people who can bring such conditions about."
- SAPA