Note to Broadcasters: Please find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Hans-Jurie Moolman
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has filed a comprehensive review application in the Pretoria High Court to challenge the Municipal Demarcation Board’s (“MDB”) decision to refuse the disestablishment of the JB Marks Local Municipality into the former Tlokwe (Potchefstroom) and Ventersdorp Local Municipalities (see document here).
The merger of the Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp was implemented in 2015 at the request of the former Minster of the COGTA, Pravin Gordhan and was, at the time, considered to be a political counter strategy to try and mitigate his party’s decline in support in the former Tlokwe Local Municipality. No meaningful assessment of service delivery implications or administrative feasibility was undertaken.
This political interference is further evidenced by the MDB’s refusal to conduct proper public participation prior to the merger and its disregard for recommendations contained in its own empirical research report.
That report recommended alternative interventions to support Ventersdorp without merging the municipalities and warned of the severe service delivery disruptions that would follow. Residents of both Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp have since experienced the consequences of these ignored warnings.
Since 2023 and after a call for submission by the MDB, various role players, including the DA formally requested the MDB to reconsider their ill-founded 2015 decision by disestablishing the JB Marks Local Municipality into the former separate municipalities and to allow for the intervention at Ventersdorp as was recommended in its own 2015 report.
Thereafter the MDB commenced with a process where it gave stakeholder the impression that it was willing to reconsider its position. After an initial research report and only stakeholder engagements a decision of the request by stakeholders was deferred.
However, on 7 August 2025, the MDB rejected the request and opted to retain the status quo. This refusal is deeply troubling, especially in light of the severe decline in service delivery since the merger, a decline the MDB itself predicted in 2015.
Records obtained by the DA after the decision reveal that the MDB’s own new research supported the disestablishment of JB Marks, and that very little evidence justified maintaining the merged municipality. Despite this, the Board dismissed stakeholder concerns and the overwhelming voice of more than 14 000 residents who signed the petition in favour of demerging.
The DA was left with no option but to take legal action. The MDB must be held accountable for providing flimsy and irrational reasons for its decision and for allowing political expediency to override the best interests of residents. The future of JB Marks cannot be sacrificed due to political pressure exerted by provincial government office bearers or members of the provincial executive council.
The DA remains committed to fighting for accountable governance and for restoring service delivery in both Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp.