Msukaligwa Local Municipality

Msukaligwa Municipality (Zulu: UMasipala wase Msukaligwa; Afrikaans: Msukaligwa Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality within the Gert Sibande District Municipality, in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Ermelo is the seat of the municipality.

Msukaligwa
Local municipality
Seal
Location in Mpumalanga
Country	South Africa
Province	Mpumalanga
District	Gert Sibande
Seat	Ermelo
Wards	19
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
Area
• Total	6,016 km2 (2,323 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	149,377
• Density	25/km2 (64/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	88.1%
• Coloured	0.6%
• Indian/Asian	1.1%
• White	9.8%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Zulu	72.6%
• Afrikaans	9.8%
• Swazi	8.5%
• English	3.5%
• Other	5.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	MP302

Main places

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

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Breyten	80201	2.75	4,591	Zulu
Camden	80202	4.78	752	Zulu
Davel	80203	1.61	87	Zulu
Ermelo	80204	25.48	11,596	Zulu
Kwachibikhulu	80205	0.24	2,490	Zulu
KwaDela	80206	0.49	3,548	Zulu
KwaZanele	80207	1.90	7,493	Zulu
Lothair	80208	6.97	93	Zulu
Phumula	80210	2.56	16,295	Zulu
Selindile	80211	1.05	5,340	Zulu
Sheepmoor	80212	1.68	1,229	Zulu
Wesselton	80213	8.34	23,443	Zulu
Remainder of the municipality	80209	5,958.56	47,832	Zulu

Politics

Main article: Msukaligwa Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of thirty-eight members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Nineteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in nineteen wards, while the remaining nineteen 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 twenty-four 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	16,334	59.46	18	16,992	62.55	6	24
	Economic Freedom Fighters	4,676	17.02	0	4,676	17.21	7	7
	Democratic Alliance	2,672	9.73	1	2,763	10.17	3	4
	Freedom Front Plus	1,677	6.10	0	1,546	5.69	2	2
	Independent candidates	1,253	4.56	0				0
	African Christian Democratic Party	326	1.19	0	370	1.36	1	1
	5 other parties	533	1.94	0	819	3.01	0	0
Total		27,471	100.00	19	27,166	100.00	19	38
Valid votes		27,471	97.90		27,166	96.71
Invalid/blank votes		589	2.10		923	3.29
Total votes		28,060	100.00		28,089	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		69,662	40.28		69,662	40.32