Thaba Chweu Local Municipality
Thaba Chweu Municipality (Northern Sotho: Mmasepala wa Thaba Chweu; Swazi: Masipaladi iThaba Chweu; Afrikaans: Thaba Chweu Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality within the Ehlanzeni District Municipality, in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.
Main places
The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:
Place | Code | Area (km) | Population | Most spoken language |
---|---|---|---|---|
Graskop | 81401 | 1.57 | 2,326 | Afrikaans |
Lydenburg | 81402 | 26.12 | 6,858 | Afrikaans |
Mashishing | 81403 | 4.19 | 16,185 | Northern Sotho |
Pilgrim's Rest | 81404 | 15.28 | 16,251 | Northern Sotho |
Sabie | 81405 | 78.81 | 5,674 | Afrikaans |
Simile | 81406 | 0.94 | 6,265 | Swazi |
Remainder of the municipality | 81407 | 5,553.77 | 27,679 | Northern Sotho |
Politics
The municipal council consists of twenty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Fourteen are elected by first-past-the-post voting in fourteen wards, while the remaining thirteen 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 sixteen seats on the council.
The following table shows the results of the election.
Party | Ward | List | Total seats | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |||
African National Congress | 12,552 | 58.05 | 12 | 12,699 | 58.61 | 4 | 16 | |
Democratic Alliance | 4,744 | 21.94 | 2 | 4,730 | 21.83 | 4 | 6 | |
Economic Freedom Fighters | 2,435 | 11.26 | 0 | 2,570 | 11.86 | 3 | 3 | |
Freedom Front Plus | 773 | 3.57 | 0 | 793 | 3.66 | 1 | 1 | |
African Unified Movement | 300 | 1.39 | 0 | 282 | 1.30 | 1 | 1 | |
Independent candidates | 305 | 1.41 | 0 | 0 | ||||
6 other parties | 514 | 2.38 | 0 | 594 | 2.74 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 21,623 | 100.00 | 14 | 21,668 | 100.00 | 13 | 27 | |
Valid votes | 21,623 | 98.47 | 21,668 | 98.38 | ||||
Invalid/blank votes | 337 | 1.53 | 357 | 1.62 | ||||
Total votes | 21,960 | 100.00 | 22,025 | 100.00 | ||||
Registered voters/turnout | 50,959 | 43.09 | 50,959 | 43.22 |
By-elections from November 2021
The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since November 2021.
Date | Ward | Party of the previous councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 March 2022 | 83201006 | African National Congress | African Unified Movement |
After the by-election, the council was reconfigured as below:
Party | Seats | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ward | List | Total | ||||
African National Congress | 11 | 4 | 15 | |||
Democratic Alliance | 2 | 4 | 6 | |||
Economic Freedom Fighters | 0 | 3 | 3 | |||
African Unified Movement | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
Freedom Front Plus | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||
Total | 14 | 13 | 27 |