LD-ELECTIONS

JOHANNESBURG July 26 Sapa

Local government elections to go ahead on November 1

The local government elections will go ahead in all provinces
on November 1 as scheduled, but areas where demarcation problems
exist can apply for exemption, the Cabinet decided on Wednesday.

Exempted areas would hold elections in the first quarter of
next year, Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development
Minister Roelf Meyer told a Press briefing at the Union Buildings
in Pretoria after a Cabinet meeting.

"Both the constitution and the Local Government Transition Act
will need to be amended to allow for staggered elections," Meyer
said. The constitution presently states that local government
elections in all areas have to take place on the same day.

An announcement on when exempted areas would go to the polls
would be made before November. Whether or not postponed elections
would all take place on the same day still had to be determined.

Meyer said the government would take steps against areas
neglecting to apply properly for exemption as well as those which
did not qualify for a delay.

These would include "removing demarcation disputes from their
hands" and entrusting them to resolution mechanisms such as the
special Electoral Court.

Applications by problem areas would have to be well-motivated
and would be submitted through provincial premiers to the minister.

"Elections will be staggered on
local-authority-by-local-authority basis, and not a
province-to-province basis," Meyer said.

Cabinet resolved that "serious attempts should be made to
increase the number of local authorities and the overall percentage
of the electorate participating in the election".

About 75 percent of local areas comprising 70 percent of voters
would be ready to hold elections on November 1, Meyer said.

He said political parties in the Greater Johannesburg
Metropolitan area, where demarcation problems existed, were
optimistic of still meeting the scheduled deadline.

The Local Government Elections Task Group also believed this
was possible, co-chairman Dr Frederik van Zyl Slabbert said.

Meyer said a political solution should be attempted to resolve
the Cape Metropolitan boundary dispute.

The 46 transitional council areas in KwaZulu/Natal should be
"delinked" from the Durban Metropolitan Area dispute, as well as
disagreements over the incorporation of tribal areas in certain
parts of the province.

Slabbert said the scheduled timetable for the November 1
elections would be the main guideline in deciding whether exemption
should be granted or refused.

Asked about the deadline for applications, Meyer said: "It is
more or less now, but we want to allow for some flexibility and no
cut-off date has been laid down."

This would, for example, give the Johannesburg metropolitan
area room to adjust its timescale for election preparations.

Cabinet secretary Jakes Gerwel said Cabinet's resolutions gave
only a broad outline of how the local government elections should
be handled. The specific procedures would be devised by Meyer in
conjuction with the elections task group.

Meyer said he had informed Cabinet of the absence of
KwaZulu/Natal representatives at Tuesday's meeting of his ministry
and provincial MECs on the local government elections.

"According to our information they had instructions not to be
present."

Earlier on Wednesday, KwaZulu/Natal local government MEC Peter
Miller reversed an earlier call for the postponement of local
elections in the province due to ward delimitation and boundary
disputes.

He said in a statement local government elections should go
ahead on November 1 as scheduled in most KwaZulu/Natal areas.

Spokesman for the KwaZulu/Natal local government and housing
department Warwick Dorning said Miller's turn-around was an attempt
to promote national consensus in local election policy.