Profile of Municipality
Level of Government
The Ngwathe Local Municipality was established in terms of Section 14 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, Act No 117 of 1998) and was published in Provincial Gazette No 184 dated 28 September 2000. The Local Municipality is a category B Municipality with a collective executive system combined with a ward participatory system as contemplated in Section 3(b) of the Determination of Types of Municipality Act, 2000 (Act No 1 of 2000).
Spatial Description
The Ngwathe local municipality is situated in the northern part of Fezile Dabi District Municipality. The major towns that form Ngwathe Local Municipality’s areas of jurisdiction include Parys, Vredefort, Heilbron, Koppies and Edenville. The former Transitional Local Councils and section of the former Koepel, Kroonkop and Vaal Dam Transitional Rural Councils also forms part of the Ngwathe area. The Vaal River forms the northern boundary of the area, which also serves as the boundary between the Free State and Gauteng and North West Province. The Renoster River also drains through the region and is dammed up in the vicinity of Koppies in a series of dams, namely Weltevrede, Rooipoort and Koppies Dams. The above rivers together with the respective dams are prominent water sources for agricultural purposes in the region.
Municipal Biodiversity Summary
The municipality covers an area of 705501.1ha of which 61.6 % has remained as natural habitat. There are no formal land-based protected areas or RAMSAR sites in the municipality. There are two biomes, namely Grassland and Savanna, covering the whole municipality. Twelve vegetation typesare found in the municipality. There are no critically endangered ecosystems in the municipality. One endangered eco-system, namely Vaal-Vet Sandy Grassland occurs. There are four vulnerable ecosystems in the Ngwathe Local Municipality. These are the Eastern Free State Clay Grassland, Eastern Temperate Freshwater Wetlands, Soweto Highveld Grassland and Vredefort Dome Granite Grassland. The Freshwater Ecosystems in the municipality are characterized by two water management areas, namely the Upper Vaal and Middle Vaal. Ten rivers run through the municipality and wetlands cover 2.2 % of the Ngwathe local municipal are.