Setsoto Local Municipality is an administrative area in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District of the Free State in South Africa. The name is a Sesotho word meaning "beauty". Setsoto is headed by Ficksburg, followed by Senekal, Clocolan and Marquard. It is the getaway municipality to the Kingdom of Lesotho through Ficksburg. Setsoto is rich in agriculture as well as producing cherries.
Setsoto | |
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Local municipality | |
![]() Seal | |
![]() Location in the Free State | |
Country | South Africa |
Province | Free State |
District | Thabo Mofutsanyane |
Seat | Ficksburg |
Wards | 18 |
Government | |
• Type | Municipal council |
• Mayor | Seipati Mbiwe |
Area | |
• Total | 5,966 km2 (2,303 sq mi) |
Population (2011)[2] | |
• Total | 112,597 |
• Density | 19/km2 (49/sq mi) |
Racial makeup (2011) | |
• Black African | 92.3% |
• Coloured | 0.7% |
• Indian/Asian | 1.9% |
• White | 4.7% |
First languages (2011) | |
• Sotho | 87.2% |
• Afrikaans | 7.1% |
• English | 2.9% |
• Sign language | 1.2% |
• Other | 1.6% |
Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
Municipal code | FS191 |
The first mayor was Ms M.Molete and the current is Ms Seipati Mbiwe.[3]
The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places:[4]
Place | Code | Area (km2) | Population | Most spoken language |
---|---|---|---|---|
Clocolan | 15.76 | 1,349 | Afrikaans | |
Ficksburg | 50.35 | 5,400 | Afrikaans | |
Hlohlolwane | 3.21 | 16,253 | Sotho | |
Marquard | 7.30 | 1,033 | Afrikaans | |
Matwabeng | 3.65 | 22,076 | Sotho | |
Meqheleng | 4.13 | 35,848 | Sotho | |
Moemaneng | 1.86 | 14,469 | Sotho | |
Senekal | 32.88 | 3,466 | Sotho | |
Setsoto/Willem Pretorius Game Reserve | 130.11 | 185 | Sotho | |
Remainder of the municipality | 5,712.13 | 12,519 | Sotho |
The municipal council consists of thirty-three members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Seventeen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in seventeen wards, while the remaining sixteen 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 majority of seventeen seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.[5]
Party | Ward | List | Total seats | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |||
African National Congress | 12,405 | 50.77 | 14 | 12,409 | 51.14 | 3 | 17 | |
Setsoto Service Delivery Forum | 5,597 | 22.91 | 3 | 5,542 | 22.84 | 5 | 8 | |
Economic Freedom Fighters | 2,174 | 8.90 | 0 | 2,263 | 9.33 | 3 | 3 | |
Democratic Alliance | 1,687 | 6.90 | 0 | 1,701 | 7.01 | 2 | 2 | |
Freedom Front Plus | 1,253 | 5.13 | 0 | 1,106 | 4.56 | 2 | 2 | |
African Transformation Movement | 320 | 1.31 | 0 | 304 | 1.25 | 1 | 1 | |
Inkatha Freedom Party | 193 | 0.79 | 0 | 228 | 0.94 | 0 | 0 | |
Independent candidates | 408 | 1.67 | 0 | 0 | ||||
All Unemployment Labour Alliance | 98 | 0.40 | 0 | 302 | 1.24 | 0 | 0 | |
Forum for Service Delivery | 158 | 0.65 | 0 | 160 | 0.66 | 0 | 0 | |
Congress of the People | 85 | 0.35 | 0 | 139 | 0.57 | 0 | 0 | |
Power of Africans Unity | 54 | 0.22 | 0 | 109 | 0.45 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 24,432 | 100.00 | 17 | 24,263 | 100.00 | 16 | 33 | |
Valid votes | 24,432 | 97.88 | 24,263 | 97.36 | ||||
Invalid/blank votes | 529 | 2.12 | 658 | 2.64 | ||||
Total votes | 24,961 | 100.00 | 24,921 | 100.00 | ||||
Registered voters/turnout | 55,718 | 44.80 | 55,718 | 44.73 |
Municipalities of the Free State | |||||||||
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Metropolitan | ![]() | ||||||||
District and local |
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List of municipalities in the Free State |