Mangaung | ||
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Metropolitan municipality | ||
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Location in the Free State |
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Country | South Africa | |
Province | Free State | |
Seat | Bloemfontein | |
Wards | 50 | |
Government | ||
• Type | Municipal council | |
• Mayor | Olly Mlamleli | |
Area | ||
• Total | 6,284 km2 (2,426 sq mi) | |
Population (2011) | ||
• Total | 747,431 | |
• Density | 120/km2 (310/sq mi) | |
Racial makeup (2011) | ||
• Black African | 83.3% | |
• Coloured | 5.0% | |
• Indian/Asian | 0.4% | |
• White | 11.0% | |
First languages (2011) | ||
• Sotho | 53.3% | |
• Afrikaans | 16.2% | |
• Tswana | 12.6% | |
• Xhosa | 9.9% | |
• Other | 8% | |
Time zone | SAST (UTC+2) | |
Municipal code | MAN |
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 name meaning "place of Cheetahs". Legend has it that when the first settlers arrived on these shores, they were stunned by the vast plains that were roamed freely by cheetahs.
Before the municipal elections of 18 May 2011 Mangaung was a local municipality under the Motheo District Municipality. In the election, the ANC won 58 out of 100seats on the Metro Council, while the Democratic Alliance won 26 seats and COPE won 2 seats.
The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:
The municipal council consists of one hundred members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Fifty councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in fifty 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. In the election of 3 August 2016 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of fifty-eight seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.