Mangaung is a Sesotho word meaning "place of cheetahs", as it was not uncommon for the Basotho to name warrior regiments after ferocious animals.

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

In the 2021 South African municipal elections of 1 November 2021 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of fifty-one seats on the council.

[6] Since April 2022, the municipality is under administration, one of 32 in the country, and three in the Free State where the provincial executive has intervened due to maladministration.

[7] The following people have served as the Executive Mayor of the municipality since its founding in 2000: