Ditsobotla Local Municipality


Ditsobotla Municipality is a local municipality within the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, in the North West province of South Africa. The seat of the municipality is Lichtenburg.

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:
PlaceCodeArea PopulationMost spoken language
Bakwena Ba Ga Serobatse2.371,392Tswana
Banogeng0.72502Tswana
Boikhutso2.2216,914Tswana
Coligny3.502,271Afrikaans
Ga-Raphalane26.3424,104Tswana
Itekeng0.352,591Tswana
Itsoseng7.6222,879Tswana
Kopano6.788,325Tswana
Lichtenburg87.1311,927Afrikaans
Mosiane1.731,056Tswana
Tlhabologang0.635,852Tswana
Remainder of the municipality6,325.4945,059Tswana

Politics

The municipal council consists of thirty-nine members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty 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 won a majority of twenty-one seats on the council.
The following table shows the results of the election.
After infighting between two African National Congress factions, resulting in the council having two mayors and two speakers, the council was dissolved by the national and provincial governments. A by-election to elect an entirely new council will be held in December 2022.

Municipal collapse

The municipality has experienced a collapse in basic services due to corruption, financial mismanagement and political instability. In 2025, it failed to submit financial reports to the Auditor General for scrutiny.
In November 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa described it as "a town taken over by gangsterism".
The council was dissolved, and by-elections held in December 2022.
However, the situation did not improve, and in October 2023, the court ordered the council be placed under provincial intervention.
In April 2025, after continued deterioration, non-profit organisation Sakeliga is seeking the highest form of intervention, national intervention.
In July 2025, the court ordered the municipality to pay R7.5 million, plus interest, outstanding to a contractor. The contractor had completed electrical repairs in December 2023 according to its contract agreeing a fee of R7.6 million for the services. However, the municipality paid only R100,000, and then later claimed that the procurement was unlawful, making the contract invalid.
In September 2025, cabinet placed Ditsobotla under administration.