Emfuleni Local Municipality

The Emfuleni Local Municipality is rich in history: it encapsulates the Anglo-Boer War, the Sharpeville Massacre[11] of 1960, and the 1996 signing of the Constitution of South Africa in Sharpeville.

It shares boundaries with Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the Free State to the south, Midvaal Local Municipality to the east, the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality to the north and Westonaria and Tlokwe (Potchefstroom) Municipalities to the west. The municipality is strategically located with access to a well-maintained road network – e.g. the N1 national route. The Vaal River forms the southern boundary of the municipality; its strategic location affords it many opportunities for tourism and other forms of economic development.

Emfuleni is a largely urbanised municipality, with a high population density compared to other municipalities making up the Sedibeng District. In fact, the municipality houses around 80% of the district's total population. The municipality forms the heartland of what was formerly known as the Vaal Triangle, renowned for its contribution to the iron and steel industry in South Africa. The two main town centres are Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark. Sasolburg is 10 kilometers to the south, across the provincial boundary.

There are a number of small settlements, mostly within approximately six kilometers of the above towns. They are Bonanne, Steelpark, Duncanville, Unitas Park, Sonland Park, Waldrift, Rust-ter-Vaal, Roshnee and Debonair Park. The area also comprises a number of large residential areas, all of which require considerable investment in infrastructure and environmental upgrading.

It also contains six large townships namely Evaton, Sebokeng,[12] Sharpeville, Boipatong, Bophelong and Tshepiso. These centers currently lack the facilities generally associated with towns of their size.

Emfuleni Municipality was placed under administration in June 2018.[13] OUTA believed that Emfuleni's service delivery had collapsed by 2018, and that the situation was causing human rights violations. It suggested that criminal enforcement action be taken to rectify its non-compliance as detailed in two directives and nine non-compliance notices.[6] The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) expressed the opinion in 2020 that Emfuleni is dysfunctional without any evidence of improvement, and that it displayed no dedicated efforts to serve the public.[14] The municipality conducted inefficient operations for years, accumulating unauthorized, irregular and wasteful expenses, while showing a disregard for laws and regulations, accompanied with poor oversight and consequence management. At the same time it displayed a lack of willingness to accept advice and cooperation in the form of public-private partnerships.[6][14] The DA recommended that the Emfuleni council be dissolved, as service delivery had collapsed.[13]

A 2018 High Court judgment allowed Eskom to seize R645 million worth of Emfuleni's fixed assets due to non-payment for electricity.[13] The municipality's 2018/19 year-end balance sheet revealed irregular expenditure of R1.1 billion due to non-compliance with laws and regulations.[14] Its committee for public accounts did not investigate these irregular expenditures, nor was its senior manager held accountable, or 81 matters highlighted by the Auditor-General investigated.[14]

The DA pointed out that the municipality spent the exorbitant amount of R378 million on overtime payments during the 2015/2016 to 2019/2020 financial years, besides up to R10 million a month on travel claims[13] and excessive amounts on the salaries of two administrators[15] while it was facing a serious cash flow problem.[16] Its financial recovery plan was ineffective leaving it with a backlog of R586 million for the 2019/2020 financial year.[13] Its unserviced debt with Eskom (over R2.3 billion by 2020[13]) and Rand Water (some R1,1 billion[7]) prevented it from providing a reliable power and water supply,[16] which negatively affected its ability to collect levies and taxes. By 2020 it had failed to collect R8,6 billion in debt from its residents, and its own debt book reached R9,5 billion or 150% of its annual budget.[7]

Sewage spills and water leaks were the norm, and when an employee drowned at its wastewater treatment plant due to a lack of proper equipment, there was no follow-up.[14] Despite the R3 billion that was spent on local wastewater treatment plants between 2011 and 2018, these plants continued to discharge raw sewage into the Vaal River, Klip River and Riet Spruit.[6] Several suburbs, including Drie Riviere, Duncanville, Falcon Ridge and Sonland Park experienced power cuts which would last for days on end.[17] The installation of smart meters turned into a costly debacle when Emfuleni, due lack of planning and foresight, did not honour its 2013-2017 contract with supplier BXC.[18][19] Parts of the municipality were plunged into darkness without warning.[20]

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:[21]

The municipal council consists of ninety members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Forty-five councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in forty-five wards, while the remaining forty-five are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 3 August 2016 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of seats on the council.

The following table shows the results of the election.[22][23]

• Official website
• Annual Report July 2007 - June 2008. Emfuleni Local Municipality.