NATIONAL NEWS - The ANC Youth League on Wednesday welcomed the merger of the Emfuleni and Midvaal local municipalities and Sedibeng district municipality into a metro.

"This decision takes the Gauteng province a step closer into the ANC Youth League-envisaged world class Gauteng city region," spokesman Bandile Masuku said in a statement.

The announcement of the merger was made on Tuesday by the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) in Pretoria. The merger was among 157 cases the board published, detailing what changes would be made to certain municipalities following the 2016 municipal elections.

The Emfuleni municipality incorporates Vanderbijlpark and Sebokeng. Midvaal includes Meyerton and Randvaal. Sedibeng covers Heidelberg and Ratanda.

Announcing the merger, MDB chairman Landiwe Mahlangu told reporters the municipalities were interlinked.

"When an area starts to exhibit characteristics of high growth and there is evidence of an area becoming a hub of business, it has to be a category A municipality," he said.

Masuku said the merger would see better service delivery programmes and care for the citizens, particularly the youth.

The Democratic Alliance vowed to take the MDB to court, saying the decision was politically motivated.

"The MDB clearly bowed to ANC pressure to go ahead with the merger despite thousands of objections... ," local government spokesman Fred Nel said.

Nel said the party would submit a Promotion of Access to Information Act application to learn the reasons for the decision to merge the Midvaal and Emfuleni municipalities.

Source : Sapa