Maruleng Local Municipality

Maruleng Municipality (Northern Sotho: Mmasepala wa Maruleng) is a local municipality within the Mopani District Municipality, in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The seat of the municipality is Hoedspruit.

Maruleng
Local municipality
Seal
Location in Limpopo
Country	South Africa
Province	Limpopo
District	Mopani
Seat	Hoedspruit
Wards	14
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Thobejane M.H
Area
• Total	3,244 km2 (1,253 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	94,857
• Density	29/km2 (76/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	95.5%
• Coloured	0.3%
• Indian/Asian	0.2%
• White	3.8%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Northern Sotho	89.7%
• Tsonga	3.9%
• Afrikaans	2.7%
• English	1.6%
• Other	3.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	LIM335

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:^[3]

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Banereng Ba Letsoalo	92201	122.29	6,752	Northern Sotho
Banereng Ba Sekororo	92202	210.51	35,268	Northern Sotho
Hoedspruit	92203	7.17	2,052	Afrikaans
Letaba	92204	21.58	2,483	Northern Sotho
Mametja	92205	316.08	26,702	Northern Sotho
Naphuno	92207	10.36	8,188	Northern Sotho
Remainder of the municipality	92206	2,543.64	12,929	Tsonga

Politics

Main article: Govan Mbeki Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of twenty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Fourteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in fourteen wards, while the remaining thirteen 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 fifteen 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	15,777	49.94	11	17,922	59.18	4	15
	Economic Freedom Fighters	2,973	9.41	0	4,765	15.73	4	4
	Independent candidates	6,833	21.63	2				2
	Civic Warriors	2,802	8.87	0	3,197	10.56	3	3
	Democratic Alliance	2,066	6.54	1	2,728	9.01	1	2
	Freedom Front Plus	489	1.55	0	521	1.72	1	1
	6 other parties	655	2.07	0	1,152	3.80	0	0
Total		31,595	100.00	14	30,285	100.00	13	27
Valid votes		31,595	98.58		30,285	96.94
Invalid/blank votes		454	1.42		957	3.06
Total votes		32,049	100.00		31,242	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		54,886	58.39		54,886	56.92

Corruption

In 2018, the Municipal Manager of Maruleng, Sutane Johannes Lethole, was accused of outsourcing the rental of a single truck for waste removal waste removal at R500 000 per month, with a 15% annual escalation.^[5] Lethole was also alleged to have increased his own salary to R1.1 million a month, with a cellphone allowance of R2063, without council approval. Lethole resigned after the Democratic Alliance and Civic Warriors of Maruleng brought the corruption to light. ^[6][7]