North West acting Premier and MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, Nono Maloyi, said he has signed a level two accreditation for the Rustenburg Local Municipality to be upgraded into a metropolitan municipality.
Maloyi had much praise for the platinum city, which he said is doing well when compared with other metros.
On Friday, Maloyi who was accompanied by Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu, the outgoing provincial EXCO members and Mayor Sheila Mabale Huma, assured the city’s residents in Bafenya village outside Rustenburg that soon they will be under a metropolitan municipality.
He was speaking at the last meeting of the accelerated service delivery program Thuntsha Lerole ahead of the May 29 general elections.
Last year the municipality made an application at the Municipal Demarcation Board to have the Kgetleng River Local municipality and some parts of Madibeng and Moses Kotane Local Municipalities absorbed into Rustenburg.
The application was made following a council meeting in April last year where 87 of the 90 members voted in favor of the proposal for Rustenburg to have those municipalities incorporated into Rustenburg.
A metropolitan municipality is an urban local government that provides coordination among district municipalities. It is an administrative unit in mega cities with defined population and geographical conditions.
Currently South Africa has only eight metropolitan municipalities in five provinces, that include Gauteng, Western Cape, Durban, Eastern Cape, and Free State.
North West, Northern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga are the only four provinces without a metropolitan municipality.