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ABSTRACT
This paper engages with a key concern in boundary studies namely what are the major forces which inform boundaries and boundary demarcation/making. Boundaries being quintessentially geographical are infused with social, political and spatial content. While the Berlin Conference imposed national boundaries using geography as a colonial tool, the principle of boundaries imposed at the intra-national scale is a current concern. The paper focusses on boundary demarcation in post-apartheid South Africa through a consideration of the Matatiele boundary dispute. Matatiele, a small town, situated towards the south-western corner of KwaZulu-Natal, but now part of the Eastern Cape Province, has been the subject of a longstanding boundary dispute between the two provinces. The matter has been a subject of a number of protracted court battles between residents of the town and the different tiers of government, the provincial and national tiers of government in particular. The paper details the struggle for spatial justice – the political strategies, in particular – of proponents for the inclusion of Matatiele into KwaZulu-Natal. The paper demonstrates that in a (quasi) federal spatial formation such as South Africa, boundaries are politically overdetermined at the national scale. The local democratic content, therefore, is rendered inconsequential.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. The irony relates to the government’s removal of cross boundary arrangements during the mid-2000s. The rationale being that they were administratively unwieldy.
2. In 2008 there was a clash between opposing groups resulting in several people being hospitalized when police opened fire. The march was apparently organized by the Matatiele Local municipality who were in favour of incorporation into the Eastern Cape.
3. Umzimkulu was one of those disputed areas which was designated by the CDDR in 1994. Umzimkulu was administered by the Eastern Cape Province until 2005, when the South African government made the decision to include the area within KwaZulu-Natal. If one considers maps during the period 1994–2005, one would find Umzimkulu designated as part of the Eastern Cape – an island within KwaZulu-Natal.
4. The key issue here was that the KZN legislature had not complied with the various legislative requirements.
5. What this means is that the failure to recognize the division between party and state results in the governance of South Africa as a unitary state. Moreover, the nature of governance is effectively top-down. According to former mayor the late Cedric Canham, the local ANC was instructed to support the transfer of Matatiele to the Eastern Cape. This led to several resignations from the party among them Canham and Mandla Galo, both active leaders in the Mass Action Committee.
6. The Alfred Nzo District Municipality is in the Eastern Cape.
7. The OR Tambo District Municipality is in the Eastern Cape.
8. In this section I will address local government .
9. In the 2006 local government election, the ANC won a majority of 36 seats, the AIC won 10 and the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and Democratic Alliance (DA) won 1 each. In 2011, the ANC won 39 seats, the AIC won 7, Congress of the People (COPE) won 2, the DA won 3 and the UDM won 1 seat. In the 2016 local government election the ANC won 37 seats, the AIC won 3 seats, the DA won 4 seats and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) won 3 seats.
10. The ‘top six’ consists of the President and deputy president; secretary-general and deputy secretary general; treasurer general and the national chairperson.
11. Note that the MDB is responsible for changes to municipal boundaries. A change to a provincial boundary necessitates a constitutional amendment.
12. MDB circular 1/2017.
13. There have been seventeen constitutional amendments so far. The last constitutional amendment was in 2012.
14. At the time of writing, the parliament of South Africa has been dissolved following the proclamation of the national general election to be held on the 8 May 2019.