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
Country	South Africa
Province	Free State
District	Fezile Dabi
Seat	Sasolburg
Wards	21
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Lindiwe Tshongwe (SACP)
Area
• Total	1,717 km^2 (663 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	149,108
• Density	87/km^2 (220/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	82.3%
• Coloured	0.7%
• Indian/Asian	0.3%
• White	16.4%
First languages (2011) [3]
• Sotho	59.9%
• Afrikaans	16.7%
• Xhosa	7.6%
• Zulu	6.0%
• Other	9.8%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	FS204

Main places

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

Place	Code	Area (km^2)	Population	Most spoken language
Bertha Village	41901	0.58	666	Sotho
Coalbrook	41902	0.69	30	Xhosa
Deneysville	41903	6.50	1,124	Afrikaans
Holly Country	41904	0.93	614	Afrikaans
Metsimaholo	41914	0.79	3,193	Sotho
Oranjeville	41906	7.73	297	Afrikaans
Refengkgotso	41907	5.65	13,792	Sotho
Richmond Valley	41908	0.37	209	Afrikaans
Sasolburg	41909	49.82	24,568	Afrikaans
Taaibos	41910	1.50	1,301	Afrikaans
Vaal Power	41911	0.65	798	Sotho
Viljoensdrift	41912	2.49	589	Sotho
Zamdela	41913	10.21	57,070	Sotho
Remainder of the municipality	41905	1,651.37	11,723	Sotho

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]

Party		Votes				Seats
		Ward	List	Total	%	Ward	List	Total
	ANC	20,454	20,037	40,491	45.1	16	3	19
	Democratic Alliance	13,074	12,954	26,028	29.0	5	7	12
	Economic Freedom Fighters	7,982	8,075	16,057	17.9	0	8	8
	Metsimaholo Community Association	2,163	2,246	4,409	4.9	0	2	2
	Freedom Front Plus	956	966	1,922	2.1	0	1	1
	Congress of the People	66	143	209	0.2	0	0	0
	ACDP	81	117	198	0.2	0	0	0
	Independent	189	–	189	0.2	0	–	0
	African People's Convention	26	136	162	0.2	0	0	0
	Pan Africanist Congress	59	57	116	0.1	0	0	0
	Alternative African Allegiance	26	23	49	0.1	0	0	0
Total		45,076	44,754	89,830	100.0	21	21	42
Spoilt votes		637	674	1,311

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]

Party		Votes				Seats
		Ward	List	Total	%	Ward	List	Total
	ANC	13,177	13,001	26,178	34.2	16	0	16
	Democratic Alliance	10,603	10,586	21 189	27.6	5	6	11
	Economic Freedom Fighters	7,263	7,740	15,003	19.6	0	8	8
	South African Communist Party	3,323	3,270	6,593	8.6	0	3	3
	Freedom Front Plus	1,348	1,278	2,626	3.4	0	1	1
	African Independent Congress	716	1,110	1,826	2.4	0	1	1
	Metsimaholo Community Association	629	655	1,284	1.7	0	1	1
	Forum 4 Service Delivery	405	391	796	1.0	0	1	1
	Congress of the People	68	164	232	0.3	0	0	0
	People's Movement	114	115	229	0.3	0	0	0
	UDM	121	90	211	0.3	0	0	0
	ACDP	87	116	203	0.3	0	0	0
	Pan Africanist Congress	61	63	124	0.2	0	0	0
	Uniting People First	50	50	100	0.1	0	0	0
	Power of Africans Unity	23	33	56	0.1	0	0	0
Total		37,988	38,662	76,650	100.0	21	21	42
Spoilt votes		563	715	1,278

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.

External links

• Official website