Bela-Bela Local Municipality

Bela-Bela Municipality (Northern Sotho: Mmasepala wa Bela-Bela; Tswana: Mmaspala wa Bela-Bela; Afrikaans: Bela-Bela Munisipaliteit; Tsonga: Masipala wa Bela-Bela) is a local municipality within the Waterberg District Municipality, in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The seat is Bela-Bela. The municipality lies north of Hammanskraal. It is the only municipality in South Africa that straddles 4 provinces.

Bela-Bela
Local municipality
Seal
Location in Limpopo
Coordinates: 24°55′S 28°15′E
Country	South Africa
Province	Limpopo
District	Waterberg
Seat	Bela-Bela
Wards	9
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Gloria Modiegi Seleka
Area
• Total	3,406 km2 (1,315 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	66,500
• Density	20/km2 (51/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	84.8%
• Coloured	1.5%
• Indian/Asian	0.6%
• White	12.9%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Northern Sotho	38.4%
• Tswana	16.7%
• Afrikaans	13.5%
• Tsonga	10.6%
• Other	20.8%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	LIM366

Bela is a Sesotho word meaning "to boil", referring to the hot water springs found in the area.^[3]

Main places

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

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population
Bela-Bela	981003	23.29	45,001
Bela-Bela NU	981002	3,373.73	13,616
Pienaarsrivier	981009	2.06	1,897
Rapotokwane	981007	2.17	2,787
Rust De Winter	981008	0.38	105
Settlers	981005	1.17	819
Vingerkraal	981001	1.14	827
Welgegund Village	981006	1.94	1,448

Politics

Main article: Bela-Bela Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of seventeen members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Nine councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in nine wards, while the remaining eight 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 ten 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	8,470	54.81	8	8,730	56.84	2	10
	Democratic Alliance	2,666	17.25	1	2,691	17.52	2	3
	Economic Freedom Fighters	1,633	10.57	0	1,860	12.11	2	2
	Freedom Front Plus	1,099	7.11	0	1,132	7.37	1	1
	Better Residents Association	393	2.54	0	363	2.36	1	1
	Independent candidates	627	4.06	0				0
	6 other parties	566	3.66	0	582	3.79	0	0
Total		15,454	100.00	9	15,358	100.00	8	17
Valid votes		15,454	98.73		15,358	98.17
Invalid/blank votes		199	1.27		287	1.83
Total votes		15,653	100.00		15,645	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		31,267	50.06		31,267	50.04

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. South African Languages - Place names
4. Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa^{[permanent dead link]}
5. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Bela-Bela". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2022-11-16.

External links

• Official homepage