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Intsika Yethu
Local municipality
Seal
Location in the Eastern Cape
Country	South Africa
Province	Eastern Cape
District	Chris Hani
Seat	Cofimvaba
Wards	21
Government
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Khanyiswa Mdleleni (ANC)
• Speaker	Myolisi Toni (ANC)
• Chief Whip	Yanga Zicina (ANC)
Area
• Total	2,711 km (1,047 sq mi)
Population
• Total	145,372
• Density	54/km (140/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	99.4%
• Coloured	0.2%
• Indian/Asian	0.1%
• White	0.1%
First languages (2011)
• Xhosa	95.9%
• English	1.5%
• Other	2.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	EC135

Intsika Yethu Municipality (Xhosa: uMasipala wase Intsika Yethu) is a local municipality within the Chris Hani District Municipality, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The municipality is one of the six local municipality in this district. Intsika Yethu is an isiXhosa word meaning "our pillars".

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:

People

In 2016, the population was 146,341 with an estimated population growth of 0.09% per year. This rural community is 99% Black with Xhosa as the most widely spoken language.

Villages within the district have a sense of community and often work collectively, forming communal networks to address their impoverished circumstances. Women generally head households and support their families through informal employment. They are primarily responsible for caring for the elderly and younger members of the family, providing food and gathering firewood.

The late political activist and former leader of the South African Communist Party, Chris Hani, was born in Intsika Yethu in the town of Sabalele. He grew up in a home with five siblings, his mother Nomayise and father Gilbert. The province commemorates the late Chris Hani with a statue, a municipality named after him and the annual Chris Hani Freedom Marathon, which is held on the route that Hani walked to school.

Infrastructure

This predominantly rural area is characterised by poverty and unemployment, subsistence farming, food insecurity and diseases like HIV/AIDS. Natural disasters such as drought, erosion, and floods and a lack of adequate emergency plans make pre-existing shortages worse.

Intsika Yethu is part of the greater Chris Hani District Municipality that was reported as one of three HIV/AIDS hotspots in the Eastern Cape. This, while the prevalence of new infections and the syndrome have decreased in other districts in the province.

The area remains underserviced with only 2.4% of the 35 851 households having piped water within their homes in 2016. In 2016, President Jacob Zuma launched the Ncora Bulk Water Project, a government initiative that committed to delivering water to areas in the Chris Hani District Municipality and other areas in the country. This project also aimed to broadened the areas’ economic activities. Its main economic sectors include community services, trade and agriculture.

As part of Eskom’s mission to achieve widespread access to electricity for South Africans by 2020, 94 000 homes were connected over three years in the Eastern Cape. In 2016, 86.6% of the homes in Intsika Yethu had electricity.

Economy

Many of the households rely on social grants as their sole source of income. The working-age population is largely absent in this region with poorly developed infrastructure and limited employment opportunities. Youth often migrate to the cities in search of work in labour-intensive industries like mining.

Politics

The municipal council consists of forty-two members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-one councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-one wards, while the remaining twenty-one 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 thirty-five seats on the council.

The following table shows the results of the election.

References

1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
2. ^ "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
3. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
4. ^ Local Government. Intsika Yethu Local Municipality.
5. South African Languages - Place names
6. Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa
7. ^ City Population. INTSIKA YETHU (Local Municipality in South Africa).
8. ^ Meyiwa, T., Letsekha, T. and Wiebesiek, L., 2013. Masihambisane, lessons learnt using participatory indigenous knowledge research approaches in a school-based collaborative project of the Eastern Cape. South African Journal of Education, 33(4), pp.1-15.
9. ^ Eppel, Nic. Son of the soil: The slow life in Chris Hani's home town, 10 January 2014. Mail & Guardian, accessed 15 June 2017.
10. Running For A Hero. 2017. Forbes Africa. Accessed 23 June 2017.
11. Bay one of three HIV/Aids hotspots. 2016. Herald Live. Accessed 23 June 2017.
12. Zuma launches Ncora Bulk Water Project. 2016. IOL. Accessed 27 June 2017.
13. Eskom lights up rural Eastern Cape, 17 March 2017. The Citizen, accessed 15 June 2017.
14. "Results Summary - All Ballots" (PDF). Electoral Commission of South Africa. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
15. "Seat Calculation Detail" (PDF). Electoral Commission of South Africa. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.

External links

• http://www.intsikayethu.gov.za/

v t e Municipalities of the Eastern Cape
Metropolitan	Buffalo City Nelson Mandela Bay
District and local	Sarah Baartman Blue Crane Route Dr Beyers Naudé Kou-Kamma Kouga Makana Ndlambe Sunday's River Valley Amathole Amahlathi Great Kei Mbhashe Mnquma Ngqushwa Raymond Mhlaba Chris Hani Dr AB Xuma Emalahleni Enoch Mgijima Intsika Yethu Inxuba Yethemba Sakhisizwe Joe Gqabi Elundini Senqu Walter Sisulu O.R. Tambo Ingquza Hill King Sabata Dalindyebo Mhlontlo Nyandeni Port St. Johns Alfred Nzo Matatiele Ntabankulu Umzimvubu Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
List of municipalities in the Eastern Cape

32°00′29″S 27°35′03″E / 32.00806°S 27.58417°E / -32.00806; 27.58417

• Local municipalities of the Chris Hani District Municipality