Setsoto Local Municipality

Setsoto Municipality (Sotho: Masepala wa Setsoto) is a local municipality within the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa. Setsoto is a Sesotho word meaning "beauty". The seat is Ficksburg. Other towns include Senekal, Clocolan and Marquard. The municipality is rich in agriculture and is known for producing cherries.

Setsoto
Local municipality
Seal
Location in the Free State
Country	South Africa
Province	Free State
District	Thabo Mofutsanyane
Seat	Ficksburg
Wards	18
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Seipati Mbiwe
Area
• Total	5,966 km2 (2,303 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]
• Total	127,918
• Density	21/km2 (56/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2022) [3]
• Black African	91.5%
• Coloured	0.9%
• Indian/Asian	1.2%
• White	6.3%
First languages (2011) [3]
• Sotho	87.2%
• Afrikaans	7.1%
• English	2.9%
• Sign language	1.2%
• Other	1.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	FS191

The first mayor was Ms M.Molete and the current is Ms Seipati Mbiwe.^[4]

Main places

The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places:^[5]

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Clocolan		15.76	1,349	Afrikaans
Ficksburg		50.35	5,400	Afrikaans
Hlohlolwane		3.21	16,253	Sotho
Marquard		7.30	1,033	Afrikaans
Matwabeng		3.65	22,076	Sotho
Meqheleng		4.13	35,848	Sotho
Moemaneng		1.86	14,469	Sotho
Senekal		32.88	3,466	Sotho
Setsoto/Willem Pretorius Game Reserve		130.11	185	Sotho
Remainder of the municipality		5,712.13	12,519	Sotho

Politics

Main article: Setsoto Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of thirty-three members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Seventeen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in seventeen wards, while the remaining sixteen 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 seventeen 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	12,405	50.77	14	12,409	51.14	3	17
	Setsoto Service Delivery Forum	5,597	22.91	3	5,542	22.84	5	8
	Economic Freedom Fighters	2,174	8.90	0	2,263	9.33	3	3
	Democratic Alliance	1,687	6.90	0	1,701	7.01	2	2
	Freedom Front Plus	1,253	5.13	0	1,106	4.56	2	2
	African Transformation Movement	320	1.31	0	304	1.25	1	1
	Independent candidates	408	1.67	0				0
	5 other parties	588	2.41	0	938	3.87	0	0
Total		24,432	100.00	17	24,263	100.00	16	33
Valid votes		24,432	97.88		24,263	97.36
Invalid/blank votes		529	2.12		658	2.64
Total votes		24,961	100.00		24,921	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		55,718	44.80		55,718	44.73