Problems
Maluti-a-Phofung is one of the very poor municipalities in the Free State; as of 2011 over 82% live below the poverty line. [3] Prior to 1994, the area was relatively prosperous with over 250,000 people employed in the textile and furniture industries, mostly at low wages. [3] The new South African government terminated industrial subsidies. That and labor agitation for higher wages made the factories uneconomic, and over the next decade most of the factories closed. [3] The last one closed in 2010. [3] At present government is the largest employer followed by a weak retail employment. The municipality itself has been in substantial debt for decades, and owes a considerable debt to both the regional water and electrical utilities (R3,769 million). [6] [7]
Municipal services
The failure to deliver adequate municipal services has been a chronic problem since at least 2000. [6] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] As a result, there have been a number of protests by the populace, among which was the one in Harrismith in 2004. [9]
In 2018, local residents held a mass protest concerning the failure to provide municipal services. [6] The protest turned into a riot, shopping malls were looted, [6] [13] and one man was fatally shot. [14] As a result, Cogta (the Free State Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs) intervened and administration was removed from the mayor and local council and placed directly under Cogta, [15] [16] a move welcomed by the South African Municipal Workers' Union. [17]
As of June 2022, there have been some improvements, with delivery of water stabilising, and a better relationship with Eskom. [18]
QwaQwa was a bantustan ("homeland") in the central eastern part of South Africa. It encompassed a very small region of 655 square kilometres (253 sq mi) in the east of the former South African province of Orange Free State, bordering Lesotho. Its capital was Witsieshoek. It was the designated homeland of more than 180,000 Sesotho-speaking Basotho people.
Phuthaditjhaba, is a town in the Free State province of South Africa. It is located in a section of the Drakensberg mountains. It borders the province of KwaZulu-Natal to the south east and the independent country of Lesotho to the south west. The town was capital of the bantustan, or homeland, of QwaQwa. When apartheid ended, the town became part of the Free State province.
The Free State, formerly known as the Orange Free State, is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Boer republic called the Orange Free State and later the Orange Free State Province.
Harrismith is a large town in the Free State province of South Africa. It was named for Sir Harry Smith, a 19th-century British governor and high commissioner of the Cape Colony. It is situated by the Wilge River, alongside the N3 highway, about midway between Johannesburg, about 275 km to the north-west, and Durban to the southeast. The town is located at the junction of the N5 highway, which continues westward towards the provincial capital Bloemfontein, some 340 km to the south-west. This important crossroads in South Africa's land trade routes is surrounded by mesas and buttes. It is located at the base of one of these called Platberg.
Dikwankwetla Party of South Africa is a political party in the Free State province, South Africa. The party was founded by Kenneth Mopeli in 1975. The party governed the bantustan state of QwaQwa from 1975 to 1994.
Mogale City Local Municipality is a local municipality within the West Rand District Municipality, in the Gauteng province of South Africa.
The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality which governs Bloemfontein and surrounding towns in the Free State province of South Africa. Mangaung is a Sesotho word meaning "place of cheetahs", as it was not uncommon for the Basotho to name warrior regiments after ferocious animals.
Mafube Municipality is a local municipality within the Fezile Dabi District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa.
Abraham Vosloo is a South African educator and politician who has been the Northern Cape's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education since June 2024 and a Member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature since May 2019. He was the MEC for Roads and Public Works from May 2019 until June 2020, when he was appointed the MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism. Vosloo was previously the Executive Mayor of the ZF Mgcawu District Municipality. He is a member of the African National Congress (ANC).
Bentley Gavin Vass is a South African politician who has been the Northern Cape MEC forCooperative Governance, Human Settlements, Traditional Affairs, Transport, Safety and Liaison since June 2024. He was previously the MEC for Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs from February 2018 until June 2024. He was sworn in as a Member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature in October 2017. Vass is a member of the African National Congress and the party's deputy provincial chairperson.
Desery Wellin Fienies is a South African politician who has served as a Permanent Delegate to the National Council of Provinces from the Northern Cape since 2024. A member of the African National Congress, Fienies served as a member of the Northern Cape Executive Council and as a member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature from 2020 until 2024.
Ntombizanele Beauty Sifuba is a South African politician and educator who has been the Member of the Free State executive Council for Sports, Arts, Culture & Recreation since 2024 and a member of the Free State Provincial Legislature since 2019. She served as the speaker of the provincial legislature between 2019 and 2024. Sifuba is a member of the African National Congress.
Fufe Bohutsana Providence Makatong is a South African politician and the Northern Cape MEC for Roads and Public Works. She was appointed to the position on 26 June 2020. She has served as a member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature since 12 June 2020, and previously from 2014 to 2019. Between 2018 and 2019, she was the MEC for Health. Makatong is the treasurer of the provincial African National Congress structure.
The Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality council consists of sixty-nine members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Thirty-five councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirty-five wards, while the remaining thirty-four are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.
The MAP16 Civic Movement (MAP16) is a minor South African political party. It was formed after sixteen African National Congress (ANC) local councillors from the Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality were expelled by the ANC for voting to unseat the ANC mayor Vusi Tshabalala, who faced a number of corruption charges.
Paulnita Marais is a South African politician who has been a Member of the National Assembly since January 2022, representing the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). She was formerly a councillor in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality.
Thabo Manyoni is a South African politician who was the Mayor of Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality from 2011 to 2016. He represented his party, the African National Congress (ANC), in the Free State Executive Council from 2009 to 2011 and in the National Assembly from 2016 to 2017. He was Deputy Provincial Chairperson of the ANC's Free State branch from 2008 to 2017. He was also Chairperson of the South African Local Government Association from 2011 to 2016 and in 2019 he was appointed to a five-year term as Chairperson of South Africa's Municipal Demarcation Board.
Malitaba Sarah Moleleki is a South African politician who has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State Provincial Legislature since 2014. Before that, she was the Mayor of Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality in the Free State until her resignation in September 2013.
Vusimusi William Tshabalala is a South African politician who has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State Provincial Legislature since 2019. He was also the Majority Chief Whip in the legislature until October 2021, when he was replaced after the ANC suspended him while he faced internal disciplinary charges. He is also known for his controversial tenure in the Free State's Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality, where he was Mayor between 2013 and 2018.
Nokwanje Selina "Mathabo" Leeto is a South African politician who was elected to the Free State Provincial Legislature in the 2014 general election. She was appointed as the Member of the Executive Council for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation. Leeto left the provincial legislature at the 2019 general election. She was elected provincial treasurer of the African National Congress in January 2023 and returned to the Provincial Legislature in March 2023. She was then appointed as the MEC for Health. Following the 2024 general election, Leeto took over as the MEC for Social Development.
