The Emfuleni Local Municipality, founded in 1999, is one of three local municipalities comprising the Sedibeng District in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. It is the westernmost local municipality in the District, and covers an area of 987 km² at the heart of the

Vaal Triangle The Vaal Triangle is a triangular area formed by Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark and Sasolburg about 60 km south of Johannesburg, South Africa. The area forms a substantial urban complex. Meyerton, just north of Vereeniging, is also generally ...

. It is located in the former industrial heartland of

which created employment and wealth for

Sebokeng Sebokeng () locally called Zweni by residents, is a middle-class township in the Emfuleni Local Municipality in southern Gauteng, South Africa near the industrial cities of Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging. Other neighboring townships include Evaton ...

Vanderbijlpark Vanderbijlpark is an industrial town with approximately 95 000 inhabitants, situated on the Vaal River in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa. The city is named after Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer and industrialist. Va ...

Vereeniging Vereeniging () is a town located in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa, situated where the Klip River empties into the northern loop of the Vaal River. It is also one of the constituent parts of the Vaal Triangle region and was formerly s ...

and

Sharpeville Sharpeville (also spelled Sharpville) is a township situated between two large industrial cities, Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging, in southern Gauteng, South Africa. Sharpeville is one of the oldest of six townships in the Vaal Triangle. It was na ...

. Its head offices are located at the corner of Klasie Havenga St and Frikkie Meyer Blvd,

. Emfuleni is experiencing a financial crisis since 2018, and as of 2020 it is considered a "broken" municipality which has lost the ability to rectify or recover from its many failed enterprises. It has been plagued by service delivery protests, and in 2020 its residents started a ''#EmfuleniMustFall''

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

on social media due to its inconsistent or completely lacking waste removal, collapse of the electricity distribution network, ineffective provision of water and sanitation and its failure to maintain its roads infrastructure. Jacob Khawe replaced Simon Mofokeng as mayor in 2018 and acknowledged wasteful practices. He declared his commitment to a turnaround, but resigned six months later when the municipality was placed under semi-administration. Lucky Leaseane replaced Oupa Nkoane as municipal manager in February 2020, but was dismissed in September 2020.

Local history

The Emfuleni Local Municipality is rich in history: it encapsulates the

Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, the

Sharpeville Massacre The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd o ...

of 1960, and the 1996 signing of the

Constitution of South Africa The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, it sets out the rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of the Gover ...

Location

It shares boundaries with Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the Free State to the south,

Midvaal Local Municipality Midvaal Local Municipality is an administrative area within the Sedibeng District Municipality of Gauteng in South Africa. The municipality's name references its geographical location halfway between the Johannesburg and East Rand areas and the Va ...

to the east, the

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

to the north and Rand West City and Tlokwe ( Potchefstroom) Municipalities to the west. The municipality is strategically located with access to a well-maintained road network – e.g. the N1 national route. The

Vaal River The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Ocean. ...

forms the southern boundary of the municipality; its strategic location affords it many opportunities for tourism and other forms of economic development.

Urban centres and industry

Emfuleni is a largely urbanised municipality, with a high population density compared to other municipalities making up the Sedibeng District. In fact, the municipality houses around 80% of the district's total population. The municipality forms the heartland of what was formerly known as the

, renowned for its contribution to the iron and steel industry in South Africa. The two main town centres are

and

. Sasolburg is 10 kilometers to the south, across the provincial boundary. There are a number of small settlements, mostly within approximately six kilometers of the above towns. They are Bonanne, Steelpark, Duncanville, Unitas Park, Sonland Park, Waldrift, Rust-ter-Vaal, Roshnee and Debonair Park. The area also comprises a number of large residential areas, all of which require considerable investment in infrastructure and environmental upgrading. It also contains six large townships namely

Evaton Evaton is a township north of Sebokeng, thats divided into three; Evaton Central, Evaton West (popularily known as "Mkhelele") and Evaton North, in the Emfuleni Local Municipality of Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1904. Like other ...

Boipatong Boipatong Vanderbijlpark is a township in Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1955 to house black residents who worked in Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging. Boipatong means "the place of hiding" in the Sesotho language. Boipatong's expans ...

, Bophelong and Tshepiso. These centers currently lack the facilities generally associated with towns of their size.

Mismanagement

Emfuleni Municipality was placed under administration in June 2018. OUTA believed that Emfuleni's service delivery had collapsed by 2018, and that the situation was causing human rights violations. It suggested that criminal enforcement action be taken to rectify its non-compliance as detailed in two directives and nine non-compliance notices. The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) expressed the opinion in 2020 that Emfuleni is dysfunctional without any evidence of improvement, and that it displayed no dedicated efforts to serve the public. The municipality conducted inefficient operations for years, accumulating unauthorized, irregular and wasteful expenses, while showing a disregard for laws and regulations, accompanied with poor oversight and consequence management. At the same time it displayed a lack of willingness to accept advice and cooperation in the form of public-private partnerships. The DA recommended that the Emfuleni council be dissolved, as service delivery had collapsed. A 2018 High Court judgment allowed

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. It was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). Eskom repre ...

to seize R645 million worth of Emfuleni's fixed assets due to non-payment for electricity. In 2021 members of the mayoral council (or MMCs) expressed their "surprise" when Eskom commenced with electricity disconnections in parts of

and

, and accused the utility of "putting the lives of councillors at risk". The municipality's 2018/19 year-end balance sheet revealed irregular expenditure of R1.1 billion due to non-compliance with laws and regulations. Its committee for public accounts did not investigate these irregular expenditures, nor was its senior manager held accountable, or 81 matters highlighted by the

Auditor-General A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level execut ...

investigated. The DA pointed out that the municipality spent the exorbitant amount of R378 million on overtime payments during the 2015/2016 to 2019/2020 financial years, besides up to R10 million a month on travel claims and excessive amounts on the salaries of two administrators while it was facing a serious cash flow problem. Its financial recovery plan was ineffective leaving it with a backlog of R586 million for the 2019/2020 financial year. Its unserviced debt with

(over R2.3 bn by 2020, and R3.5 bn by 2021) and

Rand Water Rand Water, previously known as the Rand Water Board, is a South African water utility that supplies potable water to the Gauteng province and other areas of the country and is the largest water utility in Africa. The water is drawn from numerous s ...

(some R1.1 bn) prevented it from providing a reliable power and water supply, which negatively affected its ability to collect levies and taxes. By 2020 it had failed to collect R8.6 billion in debt from its residents, and its own debt book reached R9.5 billion or 150% of its annual budget. In 2020 Emfuleni halted attachment of its assets by committing to pay R50 million of its historic debt to Eskom, but in 2021 faced the prospect of forfeiting its electricity infrastructure and/or electricity revenue streams to service further unpaid Eskom debt to the value of R1.3 billion. Sewage spills and water leaks were the norm, and when an employee drowned at its wastewater treatment plant due to a lack of proper equipment, there was no follow-up. Despite the R3 billion that was spent on local wastewater treatment plants between 2011 and 2018, these plants continued to discharge raw sewage into the

Klip River The Klip River is the main river draining the portion of Johannesburg south of the Witwatersrand, and its basin includes the Johannesburg CBD and Soweto. The mouth of the river is at Vereeniging where it empties into the Vaal River, which is a tri ...

and Riet Spruit. Several suburbs, including Drie Riviere, Duncanville, Falcon Ridge and Sonland Park experienced power cuts which would last for days on end. The installation of smart meters turned into a costly debacle when Emfuleni, due lack of planning and foresight, did not honour its 2013-2017 contract with supplier BXC. Parts of the municipality were plunged into darkness without warning.

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:

Politics

The municipal council consists of ninety members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Forty-five councillors are elected by

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

in forty-five wards, while the remaining forty-five 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 The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

(ANC) lost their majority of seats on the council for the first time. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

References

External links

Official website

Annual Report July 2007 - June 2008.
Emfuleni Local Municipality. {{Authority control Local municipalities of the Sedibeng District Municipality