Metsimaholo Local Municipality

Metsimaholo Local Municipality is an administrative area in the Fezile Dabi District of the Free State in South Africa. "Metsimaholo" means "big water" in Sesotho.[4]

Metsimaholo
Local municipality
Seal
Location in the Free State
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceFree State
DistrictFezile Dabi
SeatSasolburg
Wards21
Government
 • TypeMunicipal council
 • MayorLindiwe Tshongwe (SACP)
Area
 • Total1,717 km2 (663 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[2]
 • Total149,108
 • Density87/km2 (220/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
 • Black African82.3%
 • Coloured0.7%
 • Indian/Asian0.3%
 • White16.4%
First languages (2011)
 • Sotho59.9%
 • Afrikaans16.7%
 • Xhosa7.6%
 • Zulu6.0%
 • Other9.8%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal codeFS204

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:[5]

PlaceCodeArea (km2)PopulationMost spoken language
Bertha Village419010.58666Sotho
Coalbrook419020.6930Xhosa
Deneysville419036.501,124Afrikaans
Holly Country419040.93614Afrikaans
Metsimaholo419140.793,193Sotho
Oranjeville419067.73297Afrikaans
Refengkgotso419075.6513,792Sotho
Richmond Valley419080.37209Afrikaans
Sasolburg4190949.8224,568Afrikaans
Taaibos419101.501,301Afrikaans
Vaal Power419110.65798Sotho
Viljoensdrift419122.49589Sotho
Zamdela4191310.2157,070Sotho
Remainder of the municipality419051,651.3711,723Sotho

Politics

The municipal council consists of forty-two members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-one councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-one wards, while the remaining twenty-one 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, no party won a majority on the council. The Democratic Alliance (DA) formed a coalition with the Metsimaholo Community Association (MCA) and the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), supported by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), to govern the municipality. The MCA's Sello Hlasa was elected mayor, while Arnoldi du Ploy and Linda Radebe of the DA were elected Speaker and Council Whip respectively.[6] The following table shows the results of the election.[7][8]

PartyVotesSeats
WardListTotal%WardListTotal
ANC 20,45420,03740,49145.116319
Democratic Alliance 13,07412,95426,02829.05712
Economic Freedom Fighters 7,9828,07516,05717.9088
Metsimaholo Community Association 2,1632,2464,4094.9022
Freedom Front Plus 9569661,9222.1011
Congress of the People 661432090.2000
ACDP 811171980.2000
Independent 189–1890.20–0
African People's Convention 261361620.2000
Pan Africanist Congress 59571160.1000
Alternative African Allegiance 2623490.1000
Total 45,07644,75489,830100.0212142
Spoilt votes 6376741,311

The municipal council failed to adopt a budget for the 2017/18 financial year because of disagreements between the coalition members.[9] As a result the council was dissolved in July 2017 and an administrator appointed by the provincial government.[10] A new council was elected on 29 November 2017.[9] Once again, no party won a majority on the council. The African National Congress (ANC) regained control by forming a coalition with the South African Communist Party (SACP), the African Independent Congress (AIC), Metsimaholo Community Association (MCA) and the Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD) to govern the municipality. Lindiwe Tshongwe of the SACP was elected mayor.[11] The following table shows the results of the election.[12][13]

PartyVotesSeats
WardListTotal%WardListTotal
ANC 13,17713,00126,17834.216016
Democratic Alliance 10,60310,58621 18927.65611
Economic Freedom Fighters 7,2637,74015,00319.6088
South African Communist Party 3,3233,2706,5938.6033
Freedom Front Plus 1,3481,2782,6263.4011
African Independent Congress 7161,1101,8262.4011
Metsimaholo Community Association 6296551,2841.7011
Forum 4 Service Delivery 4053917961.0011
Congress of the People 681642320.3000
People's Movement 1141152290.3000
UDM 121902110.3000
ACDP 871162030.3000
Pan Africanist Congress 61631240.2000
Uniting People First 50501000.1000
Power of Africans Unity 2333560.1000
Total 37,98838,66276,650100.0212142
Spoilt votes 5637151,278

References
  1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  2. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  3. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  4. South African Languages - Place names
  5. Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa
  6. "DA UNSEATS ANC IN METSIMAHOLO MUNICIPALITY IN FREE STATE". Eyewitness News. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  7. "Results Summary – All Ballots: Metsimaholo" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  8. "Seat Calculation Detail: Metsimaholo" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  9. "By-election close". Express. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  10. "FS government dissolves Metsimaholo council". The New Age. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  11. "SA Communist Party mayor elected in Sasolburg". Times Live. 22 December 2017.
  12. "Results Summary – All Ballots: Metsimaholo". Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  13. "Seat Calculation Detail: Metsimaholo". Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2 December 2017.

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