Kopanong is a Sesotho word meaning "meeting place or where people are invited".

The name earmarks unity and seeks to encourage co-operation.

[4] The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:[5] The municipal council consists of seventeen members elected by mixed-member proportional representation.

Nine councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in nine wards, while the remaining eight are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.

In the 2021 South African municipal elections the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of eleven seats on the council.