Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality

Raymond Mhlaba Municipality (Xhosa: uMasipala wase Raymond Mhlaba; Afrikaans: Raymond Mhlaba Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It was established after the August 2016 local elections by merging the Nkonkobe and Nxuba local municipalities.^[2]

Raymond Mhlaba
Local municipality
Coordinates: 32.77°S 26.63°E / -32.77; 26.63
Country	South Africa
Province	Eastern Cape
District	Amathole
Seat	Fort Beaufort
Government
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Bandile Ketelo (ANC)
• Speaker	Anele Ntsangani (ANC)
• Chief Whip	Lindelwa Penisi (ANC)
Area [1]
• Total	6,358 km2 (2,455 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	151,379
• Density	23.81/km2 (61.67/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	EC129

Towns/villages in the municipal area

• Fort Beaufort (seat)
• Adelaide
• Alice
• Balfour
• Bedford
• Healdtown township
• Hogsback
• Katberg
• Middledrift
• Seymour

Politics

Main article: Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of forty-five 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-two 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 thirty-three seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.^[3]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	26,026	70.11	20	26,940	75.44	13	33
	Economic Freedom Fighters	2,277	6.13	0	2,806	7.86	3	3
	Democratic Alliance	2,475	6.67	0	2,553	7.15	3	3
	Independent candidates	5,008	13.49	3				3
	Patriotic Alliance	587	1.58	0	650	1.82	1	1
	African Independent Congress				998	2.79	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	250	0.67	0	746	2.09	1	1
	African Transformation Movement	150	0.40	0	632	1.77	0	0
	Freedom Front Plus	144	0.39	0	159	0.45	0	0
	Congress of the People	47	0.13	0	226	0.63	0	0
	Land Party	156	0.42	0				0
Total		37,120	100.00	23	35,710	100.00	22	45
Valid votes		37,120	97.83		35,710	94.28
Invalid/blank votes		825	2.17		2,167	5.72
Total votes		37,945	100.00		37,877	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		78,861	48.12		78,861	48.03