These settlements are loosely scattered throughout the entire municipal area and are surrounded by communal grazing and arable lands.

Apart from a few trading stores, there is little sign of any significant economic activity within the rural settlements.

[4] Many of the families in the rural regions of the municipality were formerly supported by men who worked as migrant labour in local mines.

Subsequent retrenchment at the mines has left these communities with scant means to survive.

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