Small parties eager for more councillors

SMALLER parties in three Western Cape municipalities with seven councillors are chomping at the bit at the prospect of an increase in the number of councillors – despite the law not affecting upcoming elections.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared that the Municipal Structures Amendment Act will come into effect on November 1. The act seeks to strengthen governance in the country’s 278 municipalities.

Among some of the provisions is the requirement that municipalities should have a minimum of 10 instead of the previous three, and no more than 90 councillors. In the Western Cape municipalities such as Kannaland, Laingsburg and Prince Albert, each have seven seats.

Western Cape head of the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) Michael Hendrikse said while the law would come into effect on November 1, it would not affect the elections taking place that day.

Typically, the Municipal Demarcation Board would determine the number of wards each municipality would have, based on the population size.

At times wards are broken up or amalgamated based on a process that can take place as long as two years before an election. And seats on councils are split on a 50:50 basis, with half going to wards and the rest to proportional seats.

Department of Local Government spokesperson Rowena Kellies said the increase in size would have implications for the make-up of the municipalities: “Some of the implications are additional salary and operational costs for the affected municipalities; there might be a need in some cases that the council chambers will have to be made bigger,” she said.

Goliath Lottering, mayor of Prince Albert Municipality and leader of the Karoo Gemeenskap Party, which governs with the ANC, said an increase in the number councillors would be welcomed. The municipality is made up of four ward councillors and three proportional representation councillors.

“It would mean more effective public participation through the new councillors, who would represent communities in council,” Lottering said.

“Currently, we have four wards, of which ward 4 is the biggest with 2 600-plus voters, while the others have about 1 800 each, so if there were to be a ward split, it would be that one.

“It is a move we welcome and, as a party, we have been campaigning very hard and will be contesting all four municipalities, including the Central Karoo District Municipality, where I will stand as its mayoral candidate.”

Ricardo Louw, mayor in the Laingsburg Municipality, who is a member of the Karoo Ontwikkeling Party (KOP), said the possibility of a ward consisting of 10 seats may mean a change in kingmaker.

Since 2016, KOP has chopped and changed its coalition partnership between the ANC and DA at least six times, which Louw said was intended to keep the major parties on their toes.

“Ward 4 is the biggest ward, and if it were broken up it gives us an opportunity to have more than one seat and have more say in council,” Louw said.