Midvaal
In Vaal Marina
Midvaal Local Municipality background
The Midvaal Local Municipality was established in 2000, when the town of Meyerton split from Vereeniging (Emfuleni Local Municipality) and joined five Rural Area Committees to create the new Midvaal Local Municipality. This represented a division of resources that massively disadvantaged the new municipality at the time. The local area Councils limited resources bar a few tractors as all their services had been delivered by outside contractors. All the assets in Meyerton–vehicles, computers, desks, chairs and even the lightbulbs–were spirited away to neighboring Vereeninging. The then Chief Financial Officer (CFO) had to open the local authority‘s bank account with R50 out of his own pocket. The new municipality had effectively been left destitute.At the time of its creation Midvaal was notably poor even by South African local government standards.To meet the needs of 83000 people, the Council passed a 2001/02 budget of a mere R125m. Furthermore, this was a purely operational budget; there was nothing available for capital expenditure. By comparison the operational budget for 2012/13 is R680m with an additional R120m available for capital investment. The 500% increase is quite simply the result of years of carefully balancing responsibilities, managing resources, delivering what was possible and looking to futuresustainability.The same careful balancing act can be seen with regards to human capital. In its first year, Midvaal had a salary bill for the 320 staff it had inherited. The municipality has increased its staff compliment and to date there are 723 staff members.
The Midvaal LM is a Category B municipality as defined in the Municipal Structures Act and is divided into 15 wards as depicted on Figure 11. The rural south–eastern parts of the LM all form part of Ward 1, while the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve is in Ward 4. The agricultural holdings, together with the R82 and associated settlements (in the west) fall within Wards 5, 6, 7 and 11. Finally, the urbanised area along the R59 freeway comprises Wards 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 15. Waterval to the north is part of ward 12.
- At present the Midvaal Municipality is making use of a single land use scheme called the Midvaal Land Use Scheme adopted in 2017. The Scheme is used to determine the legally registered/ approved development rights on any property within the municipal area.