Country South Africa Seat Welkom Time zone SAST (UTC+2) Area 5,155 km² Black african population 87.7% Native english speakers 3.6% Province Free State | District Lejweleputswa Wards 36 Municipal code FS184 White population 9.6% Native afrikaans speakers 12.3% Native sotho speakers 64% | |
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Matjhabeng Local Municipality is an administrative area in the Lejweleputswa District of the Free State in South Africa, that includes the city of Welkom. The name is a Sesotho word meaning "where nations meet". It is derived from the migrant labour system where people from various countries like Lesotho, Mozambique, etc. meet to work in the mines of the Goldfields.
Contents
Map of Welkom, South Africa
Reported corruption
In 2011 the municipality came into the news as one of the worst examples of the widespread corruption under the ANC. In about four years about R2bn went missing
Geography
The municipality covers an area of 5,155 square kilometres (1,990 sq mi) in the goldfields of the central Free State, north of Bloemfontein and south of Kroonstad. According to the 2011 census it has a population of 406,461 people in 123,195 households. Of this population, 88% describe themselves as "Black African", 10% as "White", and 2% as "Coloured". The first language of 64% of the population is Sotho, while 12% speak Xhosa, 12% speak Afrikaans and 4% speak English.
In the western part of the municipality there is a string of mining towns that runs from northwest to southeast: Allanridge (pop. 19,337), Odendaalsrus (pop. 63,743), Welkom (pop. 211,011) and Virginia (pop. 66,208). Further to the east are the agricultural towns of Hennenman (pop. 24,355) and Ventersburg (pop. 11,260).
Politics
The municipal council consists of seventy-two members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Thirty-six councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirty-six wards, while the remaining thirty-six 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 forty-six seats in the council. The following table shows the results of the election.