Metsimaholo Local Municipality

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]

Metsimaholo
Local municipality
Seal
Location in the Free State
Country	South Africa
Province	Free State
District	Fezile Dabi
Seat	Sasolburg
Wards	23
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Jack Malindi (AIC)
Area
• Total	1,717 km2 (663 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]
• Total	158,391
• Density	92/km2 (240/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2022) [2]
• Black African	85.1%
• Coloured	0.8%
• Indian/Asian	0.3%
• White	13.9%
First languages (2011) [3]
• Sotho	59.9%
• Afrikaans	16.7%
• Xhosa	7.6%
• Zulu	6.0%
• Other	9.8%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	FS204

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:^[5]

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Bertha Village	41901	0.58	666	Sotho
Coalbrook	41902	0.69	30	Xhosa
Deneysville	41903	6.50	1,124	Afrikaans
Holly Country	41904	0.93	614	Afrikaans
Metsimaholo	41914	0.79	3,193	Sotho
Oranjeville	41906	7.73	297	Afrikaans
Refengkgotso	41907	5.65	13,792	Sotho
Richmond Valley	41908	0.37	209	Afrikaans
Sasolburg	41909	49.82	24,568	Afrikaans
Taaibos	41910	1.50	1,301	Afrikaans
Vaal Power	41911	0.65	798	Sotho
Viljoensdrif	41912	2.49	589	Sotho
Zamdela	41913	10.21	57,070	Sotho
Remainder of the municipality	41905	1,651.37	11,723	Sotho

Politics

Main article: Metsimaholo Local Municipality elections

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] In 2023, Zwane was voted out of office in a motion of no confidence, and Jack Malindi of the African Independent Congress (AIC) was subsequently elected mayor.^[7]

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.^[8]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	12,612	34.23	15	12,860	34.71	1	16
	Democratic Alliance	9,612	26.09	6	9,744	26.30	6	12
	Economic Freedom Fighters	9,160	24.86	2	9,521	25.69	10	12
	Freedom Front Plus	1,826	4.96	0	1,842	4.97	3	3
	Independent candidates	1,178	3.20	0				0
	African Independent Congress	588	1.60	0	526	1.42	1	1
	Metsimaholo Community Association	418	1.13	0	492	1.33	1	1
	African Transformation Movement	387	1.05	0	459	1.24	1	1
	11 other parties	1,065	2.89	0	1,610	4.35	0	0
Total		36,846	100.00	23	37,054	100.00	23	46
Valid votes		36,846	98.33		37,054	98.66
Invalid/blank votes		625	1.67		502	1.34
Total votes		37,471	100.00		37,556	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		81,379	46.05		81,379	46.15