Merafong City Local Municipality

Merafong City Local Municipality is a local municipality in West Rand District Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. Its boundaries encloses 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 Beaufort West and the N14 (the main road between Gauteng and Vryburg via Ventersdorp).

Merafong City
Local municipality
Seal
Location of Merafong City Local Municipality within Gauteng
Coordinates: 26°25′S 27°25′E
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 km^2 (630 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	197,520
• Density	120/km^2 (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	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	GT484

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 a 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 in 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 (km^2)	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-five 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-seven 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 3 August 2016 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of 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	28,909	28,022	56,931	54.0	23	7	30
	Democratic Alliance	11,488	11,425	22,913	21.7	5	7	12
	Economic Freedom Fighters	8,564	8,509	17,073	16.2	0	9	9
	African Independent Congress	600	1,653	2,253	2.1	0	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	1,053	1,072	2,125	2.0	0	1	1
	Inkatha Freedom Party	726	711	1,437	1.4	0	1	1
	United Democratic Movement	724	690	1,414	1.3	0	1	1
	Others	753	610	1,363	1.3	0	0	0
Total		52,817	52,692	105,509	100.0	28	27	55
Spoilt votes		812	984	1,796

References

1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
2. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
3. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
4. Integrated Development Plan. Archived 2011-10-09 at the Wayback Machine Merafong City Local Municipality. Retrieved on Oct 6, 2009.
5. "NCOP Passes Merafong Bills." Archived 2010-11-28 at the Wayback Machine Press release. Parliament of the Republic of South Africa. Retrieved on Oct 15, 2009.
6. About Merafong. Merafong City Local Municipality. Retrieved on Oct 6, 2009.
7. Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa
8. "Results Summary – All Ballots: Merafong City" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
9. "Seat Calculation Detail: Merafong City" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 August 2016.

External links

• Official website