Phumelela Local Municipality

Phumelela Municipality (Zulu: UMasipala wase Phumelela; Sotho: Masepala wa Phumelela) is a local municipality within the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa. Phumelela means "to succeed" in isiZulu.^[4]

Phumelela
Local municipality
Seal
Location in the Free State
Country	South Africa
Province	Free State
District	Thabo Mofutsanyane
Seat	Vrede
Wards	8
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Tlokotsi John Motaung
Area
• Total	8,183 km2 (3,159 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]
• Total	52,224
• Density	6.4/km2 (17/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2022) [2]
• Black African	91.2%
• Coloured	0.2%
• Indian/Asian	0.7%
• White	7.8%
First languages (2011) [3]
• Zulu	56.0%
• Sotho	32.4%
• Afrikaans	7.5%
• English	1.2%
• Other	2.9%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	FS195

Main places

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

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Memel	41601	6.56	469	Afrikaans
Thembalihle	41603	2.33	15,952	Zulu
Vrede	41604	54.69	1,482	Afrikaans
Warden	41605	11.84	1,063	Afrikaans
Zamani	41606	4.28	5,008	Zulu
Zenzeleni	41607	5.15	5,720	Zulu
Remainder of the municipality	41602	7,463.21	21,209	Zulu

Politics

Main article: Phumelela Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of sixteen members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Eight councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in eight wards, while the remaining eight 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 reduced majority of eleven seats on the council.

The following table shows the results of the election.^[6]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	6,769	63.29	8	7,000	65.10	3	11
	Democratic Alliance	1,235	11.55	0	1,378	12.82	2	2
	Economic Freedom Fighters	1,075	10.05	0	1,211	11.26	2	2
	Freedom Front Plus	567	5.30	0	615	5.72	1	1
	Independent candidates	767	7.17	0				0
	3 other parties	283	2.65	0	549	5.11	0	0
Total		10,696	100.00	8	10,753	100.00	8	16
Valid votes		10,696	97.02		10,753	96.73
Invalid/blank votes		328	2.98		364	3.27
Total votes		11,024	100.00		11,117	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		24,050	45.84		24,050	46.22