The drawing of borders and the demarcation of spaces has always been an area of high emotional tension. In a recent roundtable meeting hosted by Isandla Institute, participants were given an opportunity to unravel aspects of that contestation.

South Africa has a long history of boundary demarcations drawn to fulfil a particular political position or to reflect the needs of a dominant group. Boundaries were drawn during colonial times, redrawn under apartheid to reflect the Group Areas Act and redrawn to accommodate the Bantustans. The Commission on the Demarcation/Delimitation of States, Provinces and Regions created in 1993 pieced the country together again, reconfiguring South Africa into the nine provinces we know today.

The process of contestation has continued, as Mirjam van Donk, Isandla Institute Director pointed out. “Boundary demarcation remains a contested issue in the democratic South Africa, and generally speaking, contestation is something that current day South Africa doesn’t appreciate or manage very well,” she said.

The issues are complex, with public participation, the influence of political parties, the public’s perceptions of the value of ‘belonging’ to one region as opposed to another and service delivery and governance concerns all having a role to play.

In the roundtable, delegates from civil society, academia and the media sought to unravel the complex issues around demarcation. In particular, they looked at contestation about boundary demarcation, especially the process of investigating decision making and reporting as well as the interpretation and weighting of seemingly objective proposals for boundary changes.

For the full story, as well as stories on the City of Cape Town, technology in engineering and asset management, see the January 2014 edition of IMIESA