# Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality

Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality (Northern Sotho: Mmasepala wa Ba-Phalaborwa; Tsonga: Masipala wa Ba-Phalaborwa) is a local municipality within the Mopani District Municipality, in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The seat is Phalaborwa.

## Main places

The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places:
| Place | Code | Area (km$^2$) | Population | Most spoken language |
| Ba-Phalaborwa NU | 963002 | 2,726.97 | 6,131 | Tsonga |
| Ben Farm | 963010 | 7.49 | 12,757 | Tsonga |
| Ga-Makhushane | 963012 | 9.92 | 13,499 | Northern Sotho |
| Ga-Mashishimale | 963014 | 13,920 | 13.35 | Northern Sotho |
| Ga-Selwana | 963014 | 4.65 | 5,263 | Northern Sotho |
| Gravelotte | 963013 | 1.98 | 1,098 | Tsonga |
| Kruger National Park | 963006 | 4,456.66 | 1,499 | Tsonga |
| Leydsdorp | 963017 | 0.79 | 6 | Tsonga |
| Mahale | 963004 | 1.23 | 1,825 | Tsonga |
| Majeje | 963008 | 19.6 | 40,225 | Tsonga |
| Ga-Maseke | 963015 | 4.86 | 2,752 | Northern Sotho |
| Murchison | 963009 | 5.85 | 1,288 | Tsonga |
| Namakgale | 963011 | 12.97 | 36,365 | Northern Sotho |
| Nondweni | 963005 | 0.76 | 984 | Tsonga |
| Phalaborwa | 963007 | 193.33 | 13,108 | Afrikaans |
| Priska-Majeje | 963001 | 0.91 | 626 | Tsonga |
| Boelang | 963016 | 0.43 | 291 | Tsonga/Northern Sotho |

## Politics

The municipal council consists of thirty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Nineteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in nineteen wards, while the remaining eighteen 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 twenty-four seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.
| Party | Party | Ward | Ward | Ward | List | List | List | Total seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Total seats |
| | African National Congress | 18,906 | 59.45 | 17 | 19,777 | 62.86 | 7 | 24 |
| | Economic Freedom Fighters | 3,893 | 12.24 | 0 | 4,353 | 13.84 | 5 | 5 |
| | Democratic Alliance | 3,069 | 9.65 | 2 | 3,157 | 10.03 | 2 | 4 |
| | National Independent Party | 1,491 | 4.69 | 0 | 1,513 | 4.81 | 2 | 2 |
| | Mopani Independent Movement | 978 | 3.08 | 0 | 1,036 | 3.29 | 1 | 1 |
| | Independent candidates | 2,003 | 6.30 | 0 | | | | 0 |
| | Freedom Front Plus | 308 | 0.97 | 0 | 359 | 1.14 | 1 | 1 |
| | Able Leadership | 226 | 0.71 | 0 | 224 | 0.71 | 0 | 0 |
| | African Christian Democratic Party | 190 | 0.60 | 0 | 222 | 0.71 | 0 | 0 |
| | Congress of the People | 163 | 0.51 | 0 | 144 | 0.46 | 0 | 0 |
| | Forum for Service Delivery | 139 | 0.44 | 0 | 105 | 0.33 | 0 | 0 |
| | African People's Convention | 121 | 0.38 | 0 | 112 | 0.36 | 0 | 0 |
| | Civic Warriors | 98 | 0.31 | 0 | 74 | 0.24 | 0 | 0 |
| | United Democratic Movement | 69 | 0.22 | 0 | 100 | 0.32 | 0 | 0 |
| | Abantu Batho Congress | 85 | 0.27 | 0 | 80 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 |
| | Ximoko Party | 36 | 0.11 | 0 | 57 | 0.18 | 0 | 0 |
| | Inkatha Freedom Party | 4 | 0.01 | 0 | 55 | 0.17 | 0 | 0 |
| | African Transformation Movement | 11 | 0.03 | 0 | 38 | 0.12 | 0 | 0 |
| | Azanian People's Organisation | 1 | 0.00 | 0 | 33 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 |
| | Patriotic Alliance | 10 | 0.03 | 0 | 22 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 31,801 | 100.00 | 19 | 31,461 | 100.00 | 18 | 37 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 31,801 | 97.85 | | 31,461 | 97.60 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 699 | 2.15 | | 772 | 2.40 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 32,500 | 100.00 | | 32,233 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 75,415 | 43.09 | | 75,415 | 42.74 | | |