The community of Gxwaleni outside EmaXesibeni in the Eastern Cape are threatening to boycott voter registration this weekend. Residents are demanding that they be re-incorporated into the uMzimvubu Municipality, saying they lack services.
The community currently falls under the Ntabankulu Municipality. The residents say there will be no voter registration at four voting stations in Gxwaleni, Malinga, Ntshentshe and Zanokhanyo.
Ward 17 residents want to go back to the uMzimvubu Municipality, highlighting service delivery issues such as access roads, youth unemployment, housing and water. Residents from various villages in this ward like Mbangweni, Ntshangwe, Mpelazwe and Tshingwane gathered at the Ntshentshe primary school where they met the Ntabankulu mayor, Tsileng Sobuthongo, to raise their concerns.
The people, who fell under the uMzimbuvu Municipality in the 90s before they were moved to Ntabankulu, say the situation is now worse.
Resident Xoliswa Simarha says that Ntabankulu Municipality is not doing anything for them.
“The reason we want to return back to Mzimvubu is that Ntabankulu is not doing anything for us. Our roads are in a bad state, we have no jobs, no houses and no water. There’s no development here for us. The closest municipality to us in Mzimvubu and they sometimes bring us services. We don’t even know how we came under Ntabankulu. Our former councillor brought us here without our knowledge. I think if we were to go back there, our outcries will be heard. We want to go back home.”
Young people who are unemployed came in their numbers to express their dissatisfaction. Mphikeleli Ntuli accused the municipality of making empty promises, especially during election time.
“If they don’t take us back to Mzimvubu, as young people we will not register to vote. In fact the whole of Gxwaleni will not register to vote or we won’t even participate in the upcoming elections. The municipality of Ntabankulu does not employ us as young people. There’s so many of us here and we are all unemployed. We just want to go back to Mzimvubu. At least we will cry better at home than crying in Ntabankulu.”
Mayor Sobuthongo says the issue of demarcation is beyond their jurisdiction.
“The consensus we are hoping to reach is that no one might go to Umzimvubu because that might affect the budget of Ntabankulu local municipality, as the municipality is already facing challenges of revenue and is dependent on grants. So the issue of population matters. We can’t come up with our own strategy. We will be guided by the existing policies in terms of how the demarcation is being done.”
Provincial Electoral Officer in the Eastern Cape, Khayakazi Magudumala, has urged communities to register to vote, saying this will give them power.
“We also have two stations that we’ve even had a challenge of recruiting people until the very last minute around Umzimvubu local municipality, where people are having a problem with the recent demarcation borders in their areas because they feel they’ve been divided as a community. There’s nothing at this stage we can do as the IEC. Staying away from voting or from registration will not assist. Let’s rather have communities that are registered.”
The Demarcation Board will come to the area in February to conduct a demarcation education programme.
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