Lesedi Local Municipality

Lesedi
Local municipality
Seal
Location in Gauteng
Coordinates: 26°30′S28°30′E / 26.500°S 28.500°E / -26.500; 28.500
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
District	Sedibeng
Seat	Heidelberg
Wards	13
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Lerato Maloka
Area
• Total	1,484 km2 (573 sq mi)
Population  (2011) [2]
• Total	99,520
• Density	67/km2 (170/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
•  Black African	77.3%
•  Coloured	1.2%
•  Indian/Asian	1.3%
•  White	19.7%
First languages (2011) [3]
•  Zulu	40.8%
•  Sotho	21.9%
•  Afrikaans	19.5%
•  English	5.0%
• Other	12.8%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	GT423

Lesedi Municipality (Zulu : UMasipala wase Lesedi; Sotho : Masepala wa Lesedi; Afrikaans : Lesedi Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality within the Sedibeng District Municipality, in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Heidelberg is the seat of the municipality. During the first war of independence, Heidelberg served as capital of the South African Republic, from 1880 to 1883.

Lesedi is a Sesotho word meaning "light". The name was decided upon because the municipality represents the light of the area. ^[4]

Politics

Main article: Lesedi Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of twenty-six members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Thirteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirteen 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 plurality of seats on the council.

In 2013, a proposal was made for the Lesedi Local Municipality to cease being a local municipality under the Sedibeng District Municipality and to be merged into the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality after the 2016 municipal elections. ^{[5] [6] [7]} The Democratic Alliance opposed the proposal and challenged it. ^[5] As a result, the planned absorption of the Lesedi municipality into Ekurhuleni after the 2016 municipal elections was blocked by the High Court of South Africa in 2015. ^[8]

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election. ^[9]

Lesedi local election, 1 November 2021
Party		Votes				Seats
		Ward	List	Total	%	Ward	List	Total
	African National Congress	12,140	12,175	24,315	50.4%	10	3	13
	Democratic Alliance	4,893	4,905	9,798	20.3%	3	2	5
	Economic Freedom Fighters	3,258	3,266	6,524	13.5%	0	4	4
	Freedom Front Plus	2,227	2,129	4,356	9.0%	0	3	3
	Socialist Economic Freedom Movement	580	504	1,084	2.2%	0	1	1
	Independent candidates	18	–	18	0.0%	0	–	0
	8 other parties	971	1,145	2,116	4.4%	0	0	0
Total		24,087	24,124	48,211		13	13	26
Valid votes		24,087	24,124	48,211	98.6%
Spoilt votes		346	360	706	1.4%
Total votes cast		24,433	24,484	48,917
Voter turnout		24,576
Registered voters		47,853
Turnout percentage		51.4%

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places: ^[10]

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Devon	70601	1.72	704	Afrikaans
Heidelberg	70602	30.16	11,614	Afrikaans
Impumelelo	70603	1.44	6,226	Zulu
Ratanda	70606	4.15	35,145	Zulu
Remainder of the municipality	70604	1,378.90	16,350	Zulu

Management

In 2021 The Hawks arrested Mr Tshepo Malekana, development and planning manager at the municipality, for allegedly defrauding the municipality by selling vacant municipal land unlawfully and illegally between 2017 and 2019. He allegedly received cash payments totaling R100 million. ^{[11] [12]}

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. South African Languages - Place names
5. "DA to fight new borders". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
6. Import, Pongrass (2013-09-03). "Bigger metro is on the cards". Kempton Express. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
7. Import, Pongrass (2014-04-28). "Ekurhuleni and Lesedi metros merger goes ahead". Benoni City Times. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
8. "DA wins court case". 22 September 2015.
9. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Lesedi". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
10. Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
11. Mokhoali, Veronica (2 April 2021). "Lesidi Municipality employee hands himself over to the cop in R100 mn fraud case". ewn.co.za. Eyewitness News. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
12. "Munisipale bestuurder vas oor bedrog van R100 miljoen". SA-Nuus. maroelamedia.co.za. Maroela Media. 2 April 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.

External links

• Lesedi Local Municipality Archived 2021-09-08 at the Wayback Machine