Merafong City Local Municipality

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Merafong City
Local municipality
Official seal of Merafong City
Seal
Location of Merafong City Local Municipality within Gauteng
Location of Merafong City Local Municipality within Gauteng
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Country South Africa
Province Gauteng
District West Rand
Seat Carletonville
Wards 28
Government[1]
 • Type Municipal council
 • Mayor S.M Mogale-Letsie (ANC)
Area
 • Total 1,631 km2 (630 sq mi)
Population (2011)[2]
 • Total 197,520
 • Density 120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)[2]
 • Black African 86.5%
 • Coloured 1.1%
 • Indian/Asian 0.3%
 • White 11.8%
First languages (2011)[3]
 • Xhosa 24.9%
 • Tswana 21.4%
 • Sotho 19.3%
 • Afrikaans 12.8%
 • Other 21.6%
Time zone SAST (UTC+2)
Municipal code GT484

Merafong City Local Municipality is a local municipality in West Rand District Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. Its boundaries enclose some of the richest gold mines in the world. It is situated about 65 km from Johannesburg and is serviced by a number of major roads, including the N12 from Johannesburg to Cape Town and the N14 (the main road between Gauteng and Mafikeng via Ventersdorp).

Formerly a cross-border municipality, the entire municipality was transferred to the North West province[4] following the abolition of cross-border municipalities by an amendment to the South African Constitution in 2005. The municipality was part of the North West Province from 2005 to 2009, when it was reincorporated into the Gauteng Province by another amendment to the Constitution, following often violent protests in the township of Khutsong.[5]

Merafong's historical development is closely knit with the discovery of rich gold deposits in the early 1930s.

Fochville is the oldest town in the region, and was declared a town in 1951.[6]

The town Carletonville was named after Guy Carleton Jones, an engineer from the Gold Fields Ltd mining company, who played a prominent role in the discovery of the West Wits gold field, of which Carletonville forms a part. The mining company decided in November 1946 to establish the town. Carletonville was proclaimed in 1948 and attained Town Council Status on 1 July 1959.[6]

Wedela is situated between Western Deep Levels and Elandsrand mine. The town's name is derived from the prefixes of the two mines: the "Wed-" from Western Deep Levels and the "-ela" from Elandsrand. Wedela was established as a mining village in December 1978 by Harry Oppenheimer, and municipal status was granted to the town on 1 January 1990.[6]

Attached to Fochville and Carletonville are the towns of Khutsong, Kokosi, Greenspark, Welverdiend, and Blybank.

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:[7]

Place Code Area (km2) Population Most spoken language
Blybank 78801 6.90 471 Zulu
Blyvooruitzicht 78802 6.31 6,461 Xhosa
Carletonville 78803 12.67 18,364 Afrikaans
Deelkraal 78804 9.41 3,356 Afrikaans
Doornfontein 78805 1.51 2,575 Xhosa
East Driefontein Mine 78806 2.03 11,481 Xhosa
Elandsfontein 68801 0.43 5,256 Sotho
Elandsrand 68802 0.19 1,786 Sotho
Elandsridge 78807 2.78 2,881 Afrikaans
Fochville 68803 9.53 11,344 Afrikaans
Khutsong 78808 8.60 69,858 Tswana
Kokosi 68804 4.90 23,062 Tswana
Leeupoort 68805 0.30 1,176 Sotho
Letsatsing 78809 0.76 1,511 Xhosa
Oberholzer 78811 3.09 5,368 Afrikaans
Phomolong 78812 0.25 947 Xhosa
Wedela 68807 2.18 14,159 Xhosa
Welverdiend 78813 4.06 2,226 Afrikaans
Westdriefontein 78814 38.29 4,792 Sotho
Western Deep Levels Mine 78815 44.72 11,274 Sotho
Remainder of the municipality 78810 + 68806 1,471.53 12,144

Politics

The municipal council consists of fifty-six members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-eight councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-eight wards, while the remaining twenty-eight 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 18 May 2011 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of forty-one seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.[8][9]

Party Votes Seats
Ward List Total  % Ward List Total
African National Congress 37,741 38,177 75,918 74.0 25 16 41
Democratic Alliance 10,126 10,081 20,207 19.7 3 8 11
Inkatha Freedom Party 848 763 1,611 1.6 0 1 1
Merafong Civic Association 619 570 1,189 1.2 0 1 1
Congress of the People 609 554 1,163 1.1 0 1 1
United Democratic Movement 497 426 923 0.9 0 1 1
Freedom Front Plus 377 313 690 0.7 0 0 0
Independent Ratepayers Association of SA 236 166 402 0.4 0 0 0
African People's Convention 36 187 223 0.2 0 0 0
National Freedom Party 33 139 172 0.2 0 0 0
Independent 40 – 40 0.0 0 – 0
Total 51,162 51,376 102,538 100.0 28 28 56
Spoilt votes 1,096 829 1,925

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Integrated Development Plan. Merafong City Local Municipality. Retrieved on Oct 6, 2009.
  5. ↑ "NCOP Passes Merafong Bills." Press release. Parliament of the Republic of South Africa. Retrieved on Oct 15, 2009.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 About Merafong. Merafong City Local Municipality. Retrieved on Oct 6, 2009.
  7. ↑ Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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