Johannesburg — RESIDENTS of Moutse, once a cross-boundary municipality between Mpumalanga and Limpopo, have brought a Constitutional Court challenge against the area being demarcated in Limpopo.

The court has dealt with two other complaints , from residents of Matatiele in Eastern Cape and Khutsong in North West.

The residents of Moutse, an area near Groblersdal and Marble Hall, want the court to declare that the transfer of the areas previously referred to as Moutse from Mpumalanga to Limpopo under the Constitution Twelfth Amendment Act is unconstitutional.

Alternatively, the residents want the court to declare that the Mpumalanga legislature failed to comply with its constitutional obligation to facilitate public involvement in considering that part of the act which transferred Moutse to Limpopo.

In the Matatiele and Khutsong cases the court had to decide whether the provincial legislatures facilitated public involvement before approving the amendment to the constitution.

In the Matatiele case, the court found that while Eastern Cape had complied with its duty to facilitate public involvement by holding public hearings in the affected areas, KwaZulu-Natal acted unreasonably. The court ruled that the part of the act that altered the boundary of KwaZulu-Natal was invalid.

In the Khutsong matter, the court ruled that Gauteng and North West legislatures had facilitated public involvement and the decision to demarcate Khutsong in North West was valid.

In his affidavit, William Ramphisa, chairman of the Moutse Demarcation Forum, said the amendment which transferred Moutse from Mpumalanga to Limpopo was invalid. The main reason was that it would not achieve the government's purpose of improving service delivery in areas that were formerly cross-border municipalities.

"Following the amendment, Moutse's service delivery falls under the jurisdiction of Limpopo. In respect of Moutse, Limpopo provides a lower quality of service, or does not provide service at all."

As an example, Ramphisa said it took about a year for Mpumalanga to process social grants.

"It takes Limpopo from one to three years to process Moutse's social grant applications. The additional two years means considerable hardship for those who are waiting to receive social assistance."