Emfuleni Local Municipality
The Emfuleni Local Municipality is one of three local municipalities comprising the
Sedibeng District in Gauteng, South Africa. It is the westernmost local municipality in the
District, and covers an area of 987 km².
Emfuleni shares boundaries with Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the Free State to the south, Midvaal Local Municipality to the east, the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality to the north and Westonaria and Tlokwe Municipalities to the west.
The Emfuleni Local Municipality is rich in history: it encapsulates the Anglo-Boer War, the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960, and the 1996 signing of the Constitution of South Africa in Sharpeville.
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 is strategically located with access to a well-maintained road network – e.g. the N1 national route. The Vaal River forms the southern boundary of the municipality; its strategic location affords it many opportunities for tourism and other forms of economic development.
Emfuleni has two main town centres: Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark. Sasolburg is 10 kilometers to the south, across the provincial boundary. The municipality forms the heartland of what was formerly known as the Vaal Triangle, renowned for its contribution to the iron and steel industry in South Africa. It also contains six large townships, which currently lack the facilities generally associated with towns of their size.
There are a number of small settlements, mostly within approximately six kilometers of the above towns:
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.
Main places
The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:| Place | Code | Area | Population | Most spoken language |
| Boipatong | 1.62 | 16,867 | Sotho | |
| Bophelong | 5.97 | 37,782 | Sotho | |
| Evaton | 35.20 | 143,157 | Sotho | |
| Orange Farm | 3.79 | 16,720 | Zulu | |
| Sebokeng | 32.80 | 222,045 | Sotho | |
| Sharpeville | 5.04 | 41,032 | Sotho | |
| Tshepiso | 5.26 | 22,952 | Sotho | |
| Vanderbijlpark | 207.69 | 80,205 | Afrikaans | |
| Vereeniging | 191.33 | 73,283 | Afrikaans | |
| Remainder of the municipality | 498.77 | 4,378 | Sotho |
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 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 3 August 2016 the African National Congress won a majority of seats on the council.The following table shows the results of the election.