Ngwathe Local Municipality

Ngwathe
Local municipality
Seal
Location in the Free State
Country	South Africa
Province	Free State
District	Fezile Dabi
Seat	Parys
Wards	20
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Victoria de Beer [2]
Area
• Total	7,055 km2 (2,724 sq mi)
Population  (2022) [3]
• Total	134,962
• Density	19/km2 (50/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2022) [3]
•  Black African	83.4%
•  Coloured	2.5%
•  Indian/Asian	0.3%
•  White	13.6%
First languages (2011) [4]
•  Sotho	68.6%
•  Afrikaans	13.4%
•  Xhosa	8.5%
•  Zulu	3.4%
• Other	6.1%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	FS203

Ngwathe Municipality (Sotho : Masepala wa Ngwathe; Afrikaans : Ngwathe Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality within the Fezile Dabi District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa. Ngwathe is the Sesotho name for the Renoster River. ^[5]

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places: ^[6]

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Edenville	41801	9.25	896	Sotho
Heilbron	41802	26.47	9,652	Sotho
Koppies	41803	114.90	967	Afrikaans
Kwakwatsi	41804	1.81	7,830	Sotho
Mokwallo	41805	1.87	8,637	Sotho
Ngwathe	41811	0.88	5,294	Sotho
Parys	41807	17.28	10,716	Afrikaans
Phiritona	41808	3.10	15,874	Sotho
Tumahole	41809	23.21	33,084	Sotho
Vredefort	41810	19.77	3,053	Sotho
Remainder of the municipality	41806	6,860.55	22,811	Sotho

Politics

Main article: Ngwathe Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of thirty-six members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Eighteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in eighteen wards, while the remaining eighteen 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 reduced majority of twenty-one seats on the council.

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election. ^[7]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	15,913	55.51	18	16,020	55.80	3	21
	Democratic Alliance	5,489	19.15	1	5,532	19.27	6	7
	Economic Freedom Fighters	3,764	13.13	0	3,913	13.63	5	5
	Freedom Front Plus	1,829	6.38	0	1,832	6.38	3	3
	Ngwathe Residents Association	751	2.62	0	738	2.57	1	1
	Independent candidates	412	1.44	0				0
	7 other parties	507	1.77	0	676	2.35	0	0
Total		28,665	100.00	19	28,711	100.00	18	37
Valid votes		28,665	98.27		28,711	98.20
Invalid/blank votes		506	1.73		526	1.80
Total votes		29,171	100.00		29,237	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		63,783	45.73		63,783	45.84

Fraud and mismanagement

In October 2024, Abram Maheso was arrested after attempting to defraud the municipality of R800 000 by claiming the account as his own when setting up an investment account. ^[8]

Afriforum and the Save Ngwathe community group brought forward a case to dissolve the municipality, due to longstanding failures to fulfil its duties to residents, and compel the Free State provincial government to step in. In June 2025, the Free State High Court ordered the dissolution of the municipality. ^[9]

References

1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
2. "Ngwathe se nuwe burgemeester ingehuldig". Parys Gazette. 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
3. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
4. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
5. South African Languages - Place names
6. Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa
7. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Ngwathe". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
8. admin (2024-10-18). "Free State Man Uses Municipality Account to Scheme R800,000 from Liberty Group". FREE STATE INSIDER. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
9. Ludidi, Velani. "Court orders dissolution of Ngwathe Municipality amid service delivery collapse". News24. Retrieved 2025-06-21.

External links

• Official website

26°53′43″S27°27′32″E / 26.89528°S 27.45889°E / -26.89528; 27.45889