Emakhazeni Local Municipality

Emakhazeni Municipality (Swazi: Masipaladi wase Makhazeni; Zulu: UMasipala wase Makhazeni; Southern Ndebele: UMasipaladi weMakhazeni; Afrikaans: Emakhazeni Munisipaliteit) formerly Highlands Municipality, is a local municipality within the Nkangala District Municipality, in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The seat is Belfast (also known as eMakhazeni).

Emakhazeni
Local municipality
Seal
Location in Mpumalanga
Country	South Africa
Province	Mpumalanga
District	Nkangala
Seat	Belfast
Wards	8
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Thomas Diphepheng Ngwenya
Area
• Total	4,736 km2 (1,829 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	47,216
• Density	10.0/km2 (26/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	87.2%
• Coloured	1.2%
• Indian/Asian	0.7%
• White	10.8%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Swazi	28.3%
• Zulu	21.8%
• Southern Ndebele	18.7%
• Afrikaans	10.7%
• Other	20.5%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	MP314

Main places

The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places:^[3]

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Belfast		80.0	4,564	Afrikaans
Dullstroom		30.4	558	English
Emgwenya		38.88	6,178	Swazi
eNtokozweni		33.17	8,835	Swazi
Machadodorp		25.61	106	Swazi
Sakhelwe		1.86	4,664	Northern Sotho
Siyathuthuka		3.33	12,159	Zulu
Waterval Boven		1.54	7	Swazi
Remainder of the municipality		4,576.32	10,146	Southern Ndebele

Politics

Main article: Emakhazeni Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of fifteen members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Eight councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in eight wards, while the remaining seven 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 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of ten seats on the council.

The following table shows the results of the election.^[4]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	7,902	63.90	8	7,961	63.93	2	10
	Economic Freedom Fighters	2,348	18.99	0	2,356	18.92	3	3
	Democratic Alliance	1,734	14.02	0	1,721	13.82	2	2
	Independent candidates	28	0.23	0				0
	2 other parties	354	2.86	0	415	3.33	0	0
Total		12,366	100.00	8	12,453	100.00	7	15
Valid votes		12,366	98.56		12,453	98.62
Invalid/blank votes		181	1.44		174	1.38
Total votes		12,547	100.00		12,627	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		26,486	47.37		26,486	47.67