Bloemfontein, also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongside the legislative capital Cape Town and administrative capital Pretoria, although the highest court in South Africa, the Constitutional Court, has been in Johannesburg since 1994.
Municipal elections were held in South Africa on 18 May 2011, electing new councils for all municipalities in the country. Municipal elections are held every five years, and the previous municipal elections were held in 2006. The first municipal elections following the reorganisation of municipalities took place in December 2000.
The primary administrative divisions of South Africa are the nine provinces. The provinces are divided into 52 districts, which are either metropolitan or district municipalities, with the district municipalities being further divided into local municipalities. Metropolitan and local municipalities are divided into wards.
Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality is a local municipality within the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa. It encompasses substantially all of the former bantustan of QwaQwa, except for the small enclave at Botshabelo. The population is almost entirely Basotho. The municipality is named after the Drakensberg mountains. The peak is known as the Sentinel, which is called Phofung in Sesotho.
Naledi Local Municipality was a local municipality in the Free State province in South Africa. On 3 August 2016 it was disestablished and merged into the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality. The name Naledi is a Sesotho word meaning "a star". The principal towns in the area of the disestablished municipality are Dewetsdorp and Wepener.
The 2016 South African municipal elections were held on 3 August 2016, to elect councils for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country's nine provinces. It was the fifth municipal election held in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994; municipal elections are held every five years.
The Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats (AASD) is a South African political party led by Pappie Mokoena, former African National Congress (ANC) mayor of Mangaung.
The 2021 South African municipal elections were held on 1 November 2021, to elect councils for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country's nine provinces. It is the sixth municipal election held in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, held every five years. The previous municipal elections were held in 2016. On 21 April 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the elections will be held on Wednesday, 27 October 2021. It had been recommend by Dikgang Moseneke to delay the municipal elections until 2022. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) requested the Constitutional Court to support the date postponement. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supported the date postponement while the Democratic Alliance (DA) was against the postponement of the date. The Constitutional Court dismissed the application to postpone the date until 2022, ruling that they had to take place between 27 October and 1 November. On 9 September 2021, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced that the elections would be held on 1 November.
Sarah Matawana "Olly" Mlamleli is a South African politician who served as the mayor of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality from August 2016 until August 2020. A member of the African National Congress, she served as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements from February 2012 to August 2016. In 2020, Mlamleli was ousted as Mayor of Mangaung and arrested over a controversial asbestos contract stemming from her time with the MEC.
Lehlohonolo James Letuka is a South African politician serving as a Member of the Free State Provincial Legislature for the Democratic Alliance since May 2014. Letuka is the father of Patricia Kopane, the party's former provincial leader in the Free State.
Makalo Petrus Mohale is a South African lawyer and African National Congress politician serving as the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education. He had previously been the MEC for Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA) from May 2019 until March 2023. Mohale is the provincial chairperson of the African National Congress Youth League.
Mxolisi Siyonzana is a South African politician who served as the Executive Mayor of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality in the Free State Province from 16 August 2021 until 6 March 2023. He replaced Olly Mlamleli, who was removed in a motion of no confidence back in August 2020. Siyonzana is a member of the African National Congress and the former speaker of the metropolitan municipality. He has been described as an ally of former Free State premier and current suspended ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule.
The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality council consists of one hundred and one members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Fifty-one councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in fifty-one wards, while the remaining fifty are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.
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.
The Executive Council of the Free State is the cabinet of the executive branch of the provincial government in the South African province of the Free State. The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are appointed from among the members of the Free State Provincial Legislature by the Premier of the Free State, an office held since March 2018 by Sisi Ntombela of the African National Congress (ANC).
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.
Motlagomang Grazy Qabathe, commonly known as Mamiki Qabathe, is a South African politician who served in the Executive Council of the Free State as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Social Development from May 2019 until October 2023. Before that, she was Speaker of the Free State Provincial Legislature from 2015 to 2019. She is a member of the African National Congress (ANC).
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.
Dibeela Gertrude Mothupi is a South African politician who has been a part-time member of the Commission for Gender Equality since 2019. She was Mayor of Mangaung from 2006 to 2008 and served in the Free State Provincial Legislature.
Gregory Nthatisi is a South African African National Congress politician, anti-apartheid activist and Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) veteran serving as the mayor of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality since 2023.
