Steve Tshwete Local Municipality

Steve Tshwete Municipality (Zulu: UMasipala wase Steve Tshwete; Afrikaans: Steve Tshwete Munisipaliteit; Southern Ndebele: UMasipaladi ye Steve Tshwete; Northern Sotho: Mmasepala wa Steve Tshwete), formerly Middelburg Municipality, is a local municipality within the Nkangala District Municipality, in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The seat is Middelburg. The local municipality was one of the four to have passed the 2009-10 audit by the Auditor-General of South Africa, who deemed it to have a clean administration.[3]

Steve Tshwete
Local municipality
Official seal of Steve Tshwete
Seal
Location in Mpumalanga
Location in Mpumalanga
Coordinates: 25°50′S 29°35′E
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceMpumalanga
DistrictNkangala
SeatMiddelburg
Wards29
Government
[1]
 • TypeMunicipal council
Area
 • Total3,976 km2 (1,535 sq mi)
Population
 (2023)[2]
 • Total229,831
 • Density58/km2 (150/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
[2]
 • Black African73.6%
 • Coloured2.6%
 • Indian/Asian1.6%
 • White21.8%
First languages (2011)
[2]
 • Zulu34.4%
 • Afrikaans29.6%
 • Southern Ndebele14.9%
 • Northern Sotho10.8%
 • Other23.4%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal codeMP313

The municipality is named after Steve Tshwete, an ANC activist imprisoned by the apartheid authorities on Robben Island from February 1964 to 1983.

Main places

The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places:[4]

PlaceCodeArea (km2)PopulationMost spoken language
Hendrina8690136.282,359Afrikaans
Kranspoort, MP8690010016.39153Afrikaans
KwaZamokuhle8690123.7920,427Zulu
Mhluzi86900410.2976,462Zulu
Middelburg869005117.4087,348Afrikaans
Piet Tlou8690036.575,039Southern Ndebele
Remainder of the municipality 8690023,775.3426,079

Politics
Main article: Steve Tshwete Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of fifty-eight members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-nine are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-nine wards, while the remaining twenty-nine 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 no party won a majority on the council. The African National Congress (ANC) was the largest party, winning twenty-one seats.

The following table shows the results of the election.[5]

PartyWardListTotal
seats
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
African National Congress17,05136.412117,30737.29021
Democratic Alliance13,25228.30713,20228.441017
Economic Freedom Fighters6,95114.8406,97115.0299
Middelburg and Hendrina Residents Front4,95510.5805,38211.6077
Freedom Front Plus2,5675.4802,5665.5333
Independent candidates1,3382.8611
7 other parties7191.5409862.1200
Total46,833100.002946,414100.002958
Valid votes46,83398.0746,41498.04
Invalid/blank votes9221.939291.96
Total votes47,755100.0047,343100.00
Registered voters/turnout108,49944.01108,49943.63

Municipal services

Middelburg's municipal workers started sporadic strikes in September 2021, and these continued into 2022 which affected several services. Licenses could not be renewed at the license office, property transfers could not be done, refuse was not removed and security guards shot two strikers, while political parties chose not to intervene.[6]

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. Auditor-General urges South Africa’s mayors to lead the drive towards clean administration by 2014 Archived 2012-02-23 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Statistics South Africa: Steve Tshwete
  5. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Steve Tshwete". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  6. Heyns, Tania (30 August 2022). "Hof moet nou stakers stuit". maroelamedia.co.za. Maroela Media. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
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