Letsemeng Local Municipality

Letsemeng Municipality (Afrikaans: Letsemeng Munisipaliteit; Sotho: Masepala wa Letsemeng; Xhosa: uMasipala wase Letsemeng) is a local municipality within the Xhariep District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa.

Letsemeng
Local municipality
Seal
Location in the Free State
Country	South Africa
Province	Free State
District	Xhariep
Seat	Koffiefontein
Wards	6
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Thandiwe Reachable
Area
• Total	9,829 km2 (3,795 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]
• Total	43,101
• Density	4.4/km2 (11/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2022) [2]
• Black African	66.7%
• Coloured	23.2%
• Indian/Asian	0.6%
• White	9.1%
First languages (2011) [3]
• Afrikaans	63.7%
• Sotho	12.4%
• Xhosa	10.8%
• Tswana	9.7%
• Other	3.4%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	FS161

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:^[4]

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Boitumelong	40101	0.24	330	Afrikaans
Bolokanang	40102	0.92	6,343	Tswana
Diamant Hoogte	40103	0.11	1,208	Afrikaans
Ditlhake	40104	2.21	8,727	Afrikaans
Jacobsdal	40105	2.25	1,709	Afrikaans
Koffiefontein	40106	33.79	1,443	Afrikaans
Luckhoff	40108	30.38	2,388	Afrikaans
Oppermans	40109	0.26	1,167	Afrikaans
Petrusburg	40110	1.99	588	Afrikaans
Ratanang	40111	0.62	4,852	Afrikaans
Relebohile	40112	0.15	671	Afrikaans
Remainder of the municipality	40107	10,155.00	13,533	Afrikaans

Politics

Main article: Letsemeng Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of thirteen members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Seven councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in seven wards, while the remaining six are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the 2021 South African municipal elections the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of nine seats on the council.

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.^[5]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	6,188	64.02	7	6,220	65.04	2	9
	Democratic Alliance	1,531	15.84	0	1,562	16.33	2	2
	Economic Freedom Fighters	1,009	10.44	0	1,064	11.13	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	484	5.01	0	494	5.17	1	1
	Independent candidates	286	2.96	0				0
	2 other parties	167	1.73	0	223	2.33	0	0
Total		9,665	100.00	7	9,563	100.00	6	13
Valid votes		9,665	97.69		9,563	96.72
Invalid/blank votes		229	2.31		324	3.28
Total votes		9,894	100.00		9,887	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		19,472	50.81		19,472	50.78