The City of Ekurhuleni is one of three metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng province and it derives its name from XiTsonga, which name means “place of peace”. The city is known as the industrial hub, economy is dominated by Manufacturing, Finance & Business Services, and Community Services & Government Services and to some extent Hospitality. The city hosts Africa’s biggest and busiest international airport which is named after struggle stalwart and internationalist OR Tambo. The city is interconnected and located to the North of South Africa’s economic capital (The City of Johannesburg) and South East of South Africa’s political capital (Tshwane City). The city is highly urbanised, with 99,4% of the population living in urban settlements ranging from informal settlements to elite urban residential suburbs. The city is the fourth largest contributor of GDP among the metros in South Africa, with a contribution of over 8% to the country’s national economy.
General Information
Since the 2016 local government election to date, the city of Ekurhuleni has been under coalition government. However, from the period of 2016 to 2021 the city was the most stable coalition in the country under the ANC led coalition with other small political parties in council. However, post 2021 local government elections the city has been experiencing political instability which has negatively affected service delivery. The ANC, EFF and AIC coalition since the ousting of the multiparty coalition under the DA, has been embroiled in conflicts which led to the removal of the AIC mayor. Service delivery protest in the city has been attributed to the poor leadership of the former mayor, which has resulted in his removal. This has put a lot of strain in the coalition government in the city. With the recent election of the new mayor and his executive council, there is hope that the city will return to some political stability and provide services to residents.
