Westonaria Local Municipality


Westonaria Local Municipality was a local municipality in West Rand District Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. After municipal elections on 3 August 2016 it was merged with the Randfontein Local Municipality into the larger Rand West City Local Municipality.

Background

The mining industry represents the largest employment sector in the municipality. The unemployment rate is approximately 30%. In 2007, 34% of households had access to piped water inside their homes, an improvement of 14 percentage points since 2001. Electricity is used for lighting, cooking, and heating in about 65% of households.

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:
PlaceCodeArea PopulationMost spoken language
Bekkersdal11.0355,838Xhosa
Cooke Mine2.731,215Tsonga
Elsburg Gold Mine11.783,238Tsonga
Etlebeni1.06636Xhosa
Glen Harvie3.964,757Afrikaans
Hills Haven1.352,147Afrikaans
Johannesburg3.58315Sotho
Kloof Gold Mine18.076,819Sotho
Leeudoorn Mine8.862,610Sotho
Libanon Gold Mine12.563,013Xhosa
Modderfontein0.46490Sotho
Panvlak Gold Mine3.13815Xhosa
Randfontein Mine10.222,774Tsonga
Venterspost40.191,048Afrikaans
Waterpan1.57433Afrikaans
Westonaria6.468,441Afrikaans
Remainder of the municipality478.9014,731Zulu

Politics

The municipal council consists of thirty-one members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Sixteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in sixteen wards, while the remaining fifteen 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 18 May 2011 the African National Congress won a majority of twenty-three seats on the council.
The following table shows the results of the election.