Maluti-a-Phofung
ThabaDimahlwa
Local municipality
Official seal of Maluti-a-Phofung
Seal
Location in the Free State
Location in the Free State
Coordinates: 28°33′04″S 29°04′48″E / 28.55111°S 29.08000°E / -28.55111; 29.08000
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceFree State
DistrictThabo Mofutsanyane
SeatPhuthaditjhaba
Wards35
Government
[1]
 • TypeMunicipal council
 • MayorGilbert Mokotso (MAP16)
Area
 • Total4,338 km2 (1,675 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[2]
 • Total335,784
 • Density77/km2 (200/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
[2]
 • Black African98.2%
 • Coloured0.2%
 • Indian/Asian0.2%
 • White1.3%
First languages (2011)
[2]
 • Sotho82.5%
 • Zulu10.8%
 • Afrikaans2.0%
 • English1.5%
 • Other3.2%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal codeFS194

Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality (Sotho: Masepala wa Maluti-a-Phofung; Zulu: UMasipala wase Maluti-a-Phofung) is a local municipality within the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa. It encompasses substantially all of the former bantustan of QwaQwa, except for the small enclave at Botshabelo.[3][4] The population is almost entirely Basotho.[4] The municipality is named after the Drakensberg mountains (known as Maluti in Sesotho). The peak is known as the Sentinel, which is called Phofung in Sesotho.[5]

Problems

Maluti-a-Phofung is one of the very poor municipalities in the Free State; as of 2011 over 82% live below the poverty line.[3] Prior to 1994, the area was relatively prosperous with over 250,000 people employed in the textile and furniture industries, mostly at low wages.[3] The new South African government terminated industrial subsidies. That and labor agitation for higher wages made the factories uneconomic, and over the next decade most of the factories closed.[3] The last one closed in 2010.[3] At present government is the largest employer followed by a weak retail employment. The municipality itself has been in substantial debt for decades, and owes a considerable debt to both the regional water and electrical utilities (R3,769 million).[6][7]

Municipal services

The failure to deliver adequate municipal services has been a chronic problem since at least 2000.[6][8][9][10][11][12] As a result, there have been a number of protests by the populace, among which was the one in Harrismith in 2004.[9]

In 2018, local residents held a mass protest concerning the failure to provide municipal services.[6] The protest turned into a riot, shopping malls were looted,[6][13] and one man was fatally shot.[14] As a result, Cogta (the Free State Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs) intervened and administration was removed from the mayor and local council and placed directly under Cogta,[15][16] a move welcomed by the South African Municipal Workers' Union.[17]

As of June 2022, there have been some improvements, with delivery of water stabilising, and a better relationship with Eskom.[18]

Politics

The municipal council consists of sixty-nine members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Thirty-five councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirty-five wards, while the remaining thirty-four 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 forty-seven seats on the council.

Election results

The 2021 election saw the African National Congress (ANC) lose its majority for the first time. Although it still finished with the most seats, a rival grouping led by the MAP16 Civic Movement, founded by a group of ANC councillors who had been expelled for voting to unseat the ANC mayor, who was facing corruption charges, formed a coalition to take control. Maluti-a-Phofung became the first local municipality in the Free State not to be governed by the ANC.[19]

The coalition consists of the MAP16 Civic Movement, Economic Freedom Fighters, Dikwankwetla Party, African Transformation Movement, African Independent Congress and the South African Royal Kingdoms Organization, supported by the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus.[20]

The following table shows the results of the election.[21]

PartyWardListTotal
seats
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
African National Congress30,80038.582131,80339.82728
Mapsixteen Civic Movement22,97028.771322,62728.33720
Economic Freedom Fighters7,6789.6208,04310.0777
Democratic Alliance5,5957.0115,9017.3945
Dikwankwetla Party of South Africa3,1313.9203,7604.7133
African Content Movement1,6792.1001,5441.9322
African Transformation Movement1,3751.7201,3881.7411
Independent candidates2,4113.0200
African Independent Congress1,0961.3709781.2211
Freedom Front Plus5230.6604840.6111
South African Royal Kingdoms Organization4480.5604800.6011
All Unemployment Labour Alliance3390.4205340.6711
9 other parties1,7992.2502,3232.9100
Total79,844100.003579,865100.003570
Valid votes79,84498.0479,86598.00
Invalid/blank votes1,6001.961,6332.00
Total votes81,444100.0081,498100.00
Registered voters/turnout175,98346.28175,98346.31

2019 municipal by-elections

In 2019, the African National Congress (ANC) expelled sixteen of its municipal councillors (fifteen ward councillors and one PR councillor) for defying a Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) decision by siding with opposition parties to remove executive mayor Vusi Tshabalala. All fifteen ward councillors contested the by-elections as independent candidates in their respective wards on 28 August 2019, of whom ten were elected. The ANC managed to retain five wards, despite strenuous canvassing by the provincial leadership and former premier Ace Magashule. The table below depicts the new composition of the council.[22][23]

Party WardPR listTotal
ANC 251237
Independent 10010
EFF 099
Democratic Alliance 055
Dikwankwetla Party 044
All Unemployment Labour Alliance 022
AIC 011
African People's Convention 011
Total 353469

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:[24]

PlaceCodeArea (km2)PopulationMost spoken language
42nd Hill415012.8116,077Zulu
Bolata4150233.4629,932Sotho
Harrismith41503136.146,345Afrikaans
Intabazwe415040.823,685Zulu
Kestell4150513.54889Afrikaans
Mabolela4150625.5223,727Sotho
Matsieng4150879.6223,858Sotho
Monontsha4150945.8150,438Sotho
Namahadi4151059.5886,965Sotho
Phomolong4151116.516,413Sotho
Phuthaditjhaba4151238.4853,175Sotho
Thaba Bosiu4151343.648,131Sotho
Thaba Tshweu41514109.548,876Sotho
Thibela4151531.305,039Sotho
Tlholong415161.154,824Sotho
Tshiame415179.2412,963Sotho
Witsieshoek4151852.414,307Sotho
Remainder of the municipality415073,721.5815,142Sotho

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Office Of The Executive Mayor". Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Payne, Teigue (18 August 2011). "Lots of factories, no jobs". Mail and Guardian. Johannesburg. Archived from the original on 8 September 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Southern Sotho". Global Security. 2000. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  5. ↑ South African Languages - Place names
  6. 1 2 3 4 Morapela, Katleho (6 February 2018). "Maluti-A-Phofung Municipal Mayor to take the heat for #QwaqwaProtests". OFM. Bloemfontein. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018.
  7. ↑ http://www.eskom.co.za/IR2019/Documents/Eskom_2019_integrated_report.pdf
  8. ↑ Leburu, Diemiso (20 October 2009). "Strong police presence in Intabazwe township". OFM. Bloemfontein. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018.
  9. 1 2 "Teenager dies after Harrismith protest". Mail and Guardian. Johannesburg. 31 August 2004. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018.
  10. ↑ Morapela, Katleho (1 June 2017). "Water and sewage problems in Maluti-A-Phofung persists". OFM. Bloemfontein. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018.
  11. ↑ Mogotsi, Moeketsi (16 March 2017). "Public Protector draws attention to Maluti-a-Phofung". OFM. Bloemfontein. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017.
  12. ↑ Xaba, Thandi (4 August 2015). "Maluti-a-Phofung looks like 'a nuclear waste-land'". OFM. Bloemfontein. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018.
  13. ↑ "Setsing Shopping Complex looted during #QwaqwaProtests". OFM. Bloemfontein. 6 February 2018. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018.
  14. ↑ Motse, Olebogeng (8 February 2018). "FS man shot dead in #QwaqwaProtests". OFM. Bloemfontein. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018.
  15. ↑ Mtebele, Nomaqhawe (11 February 2018). "MEC marks Maluti-a-Phofung for administration". OFM (Central Media Group (Pty) Ltd.). Archived from the original on 11 February 2018.
  16. ↑ "Appointment aimed at stabilising affairs". News 24. 21 February 2018. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018.
  17. ↑ Morapela, Katleho (12 February 2018). "Samwu states Maluti-A-Phofung should rather be dissolved". OFM. Bloemfontein. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018.
  18. ↑ Slabbert, Antoinette. "Goodbye ANC, and now there's water". Citypress. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  19. ↑ "ANC kicked out of power in Maluti-a-Phufong as former councillors take over". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
  20. ↑ "DA in Maluti-A-Phofung worried about corruption, to deal with it in council". SABC News - Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader. 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  21. ↑ "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Maluti-a-Phofung". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  22. ↑ Marrian, Natasha (29 August 2019). "Independent candidates snatch wards from the ANC in embattled Maluti-a-Phofung". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  23. ↑ Cilliers, Charles. DA wins nothing in Free State by-elections, while independents give ANC a bloody nose, The Citizen, 29 August 2019. Retrieved on 29 August 2019.
  24. ↑ Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa
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