Mier was a local municipality within the

ZF Mgcawu District Municipality The ZF Mgcawu District Municipality (known before 1 July 2013 as Siyanda) is one of the 5 districts of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of ZF Mgcawu is Upington. The majority (76%) of its 236,783 people speak Afrikaans (2011 C ...

in the Northern Cape province of

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 ...

. Its area includes the South African portion of one of the world's largest conservation areas, the

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a large wildlife preserve and conservation area in southern Africa. The park straddles the border between South Africa and Botswana and comprises two adjoining national parks: * Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in S ...

. The main settlement in the municipality is the town of

Rietfontein Rietfontein is a town in ZF Mgcawu District Municipality located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It functions as the Rietfontein Borderpost with Namibia during the day hours of 08:00-16:30, that gives access to and from south-east ...

. According to the 2011 census Mier has a population of 7,003, which is the smallest of any municipality in South Africa. It is also the most sparsely populated municipality in the country, covering a land area of with a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

of . Mier is the municipality in South Africa with the highest percentage of

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

speakers at 97.1%. The name Mier is an Afrikaans word that originates from the word "mere" which means "lakes". When German missionaries visited the area a long time ago, they found the pans in the area full of water. They called them "mere". As language changed, the people later pronounced it as "mier". After

municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

on 3 August 2016 it was merged with the //Khara Hais Local Municipality to form the

Dawid Kruiper Local Municipality Dawid Kruiper Local Municipality is a local municipality of South Africa. It was established after the August 2016 local elections by merging Mier and //Khara Hais local municipalities. and named after the San politician Dawid Kruiper. Politi ...

Main places

The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places: Other villages and populated places in the municipality include

Bokspits Bokspits is a village in Kgalagadi District of Botswana. It is the southernmost village in Botswana and is located close to the border with South Africa next to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Bokspits has a creche, primary school, clinic, po ...

, Brsdring, Andriesvale and Tweerivieren.

Politics

The municipal council consisted of seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Four councillors were 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 four wards, while the remaining three were chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives was proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 18 May 2011 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) won a majority of four seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.

References

External links

Official website
2016 disestablishments in South Africa Former local municipalities of South Africa Populated places disestablished in 2016 Dawid Kruiper Local Municipality {{NorthernCape-geo-stub