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

Nineteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in nineteen wards, while the remaining nineteen 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 twenty-one seats on the council.

In 2022, Sbonelo Mthembu accused former mayor Vusi Motha of having assassinated African National Congress regional secretary Gert Sibande.

Motha stated that he had intended to sue Mthembu for defamation.