Ratlou Local Municipality

Ratlou Municipality (Tswana: Mmasepala wa Ratlou), formerly Setla-Kgobi Municipality, is a local municipality within the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, in the North West province of South Africa.

Ratlou
Local municipality
Seal
Location in the North West
Country	South Africa
Province	North West
District	Ngaka Modiri Molema
Seat	Setlagole
Wards	14
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Matlhomola Jafta (African National Congress)
Area
• Total	4,884 km2 (1,886 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	107,339
• Density	22/km2 (57/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	98.2%
• Coloured	0.7%
• Indian/Asian	0.2%
• White	0.7%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Tswana	87.9%
• Sotho	3.7%
• English	2.0%
• Xhosa	1.9%
• Other	4.5%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	NW381

Main places

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

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Barolong Ba Ga Makgobi	60601	309.22	2,141	Tswana
Barolong Ba Ga Molefe Ba Moata	60602	266.70	12,725	Tswana
Barolong Boo Rashidi	60603	56.33	42	Tswana
Barolong Boo Ratlou Ba Ga Phoi	60604	650.27	71,190	Tswana
Batlharo Ba Ga Masibi	60605	952.26	15,825	Tswana
Remainder of the municipality	60606	2,303.38	2,404	Tswana

Politics

Main article: Ratlou 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 nineteen 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	13,443	68.00	14	13,338	67.65	5	19
	Economic Freedom Fighters	2,421	12.25	0	2,519	12.78	3	3
	Forum for Service Delivery	1,913	9.68	0	1,870	9.48	3	3
	Democratic Alliance	819	4.14	0	791	4.01	1	1
	United Christian Democratic Party	431	2.18	0	533	2.70	1	1
	Independent candidates	289	1.46	0				0
	3 other parties	454	2.30	0	665	3.37	0	0
Total		19,770	100.00	14	19,716	100.00	13	27
Valid votes		19,770	97.44		19,716	97.16
Invalid/blank votes		520	2.56		577	2.84
Total votes		20,290	100.00		20,293	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		47,187	43.00		47,187	43.01

Corruption

In October 2023, a report unveiled numerous incidents of corruption in the municipality, with the municipality accused of having paid millions of rands for the installation of dysfunctional water tanks, over R4 million for the construction of two roads which were never built, and over R3 million for a stadium that was never built.^[5]