Mahikeng is a Setswana word meaning "place of rocks".

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

Thirty-five councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirty-five wards, while the remaining thirty-four 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 forty seats on the council.

This North West Province location article is a stub.