Metsimaholo
Official seal of Metsimaholo
Location in the Free State
Location in the Free State
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceFree State
DistrictFezile Dabi
SeatSasolburg
Wards23
Government
  TypeMunicipal council
  MayorJeff Zwane(Democratic Alliance)
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

Metsimaholo Municipality (Sotho: Masepala wa Metsimaholo; Afrikaans: Metsimaholo Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality within the Fezile Dabi District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa. Metsimaholo means "big water" in Sesotho.[4]

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-six members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-three councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-three wards, while the remaining twenty-three 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 1 November 2021, no party won a majority on the council. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) formed a coalition with the African National Congress (ANC). The EFF's Selloane Motjeane was elected mayor, while Lucas Fisher of the ANC was elected Speaker and Fikile Msokweni of the ANC the Council Whip. However, that coalition collapsed and Jeff Zwane of the Democratic Alliance was subsequently elected mayor.[6]

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.[7]

PartyWardListTotal
seats
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
African National Congress12,61234.231512,86034.71116
Democratic Alliance9,61226.0969,74426.30612
Economic Freedom Fighters9,16024.8629,52125.691012
Freedom Front Plus1,8264.9601,8424.9733
Independent candidates1,1783.2000
African Independent Congress5881.6005261.4211
Metsimaholo Community Association4181.1304921.3311
African Transformation Movement3871.0504591.2411
11 other parties1,0652.8901,6104.3500
Total36,846100.002337,054100.002346
Valid votes36,84698.3337,05498.66
Invalid/blank votes6251.675021.34
Total votes37,471100.0037,556100.00
Registered voters/turnout81,37946.0581,37946.15

References

  1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  2. 1 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. Lekabe, Thapelo (2021-12-03). "DA's Jeff Zwane elected new mayor of Metsimaholo after resignation of EFF mayor". The Citizen. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  7. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Metsimaholo". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2021-11-20.

26°49′00″S 27°49′00″E / 26.8167°S 27.8167°E / -26.8167; 27.8167

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