Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality

Metropolitan municipality (South Africa)

In South Africa, a metropolitan municipality or Category A municipality is a municipality which executes all the functions of local government for a city or conurbation...

 which governs Bloemfontein

Bloemfontein

Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals – the other two being Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Pretoria, the administrative capital.Bloemfontein is popularly and...

 and surrounding towns in the Free State

Free State

The Free State is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Orange Free State Boer republic and later Orange Free State Province. The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans...

 province of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. Mangaung is a Sesotho

Sesotho language

The Sotho language, also known as Sesotho, Southern Sotho, or Southern Sesotho, is a Bantu language spoken primarily in South Africa, where it is one of the 11 official languages, and in Lesotho, where it is the national language...

 name meaning "place of leopards". Legend has it that when the first settlers arrived on these shores, they were stunned by the vast plains that were roamed freely by leopards.

Before the municipal elections of 18 May 2011 Mangaung was a local municipality

Local municipality (South Africa)

In South Africa, a local municipality or Category B municipality is a type of municipality that serves as the third, and most local, tier of local government...

 under the Motheo District Municipality

Motheo District Municipality

Motheo was, until the municipal elections of 18 May 2011, a district of the Free State province of South Africa...

. In the election, the ANC

African National Congress

The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...

 won 65 out of 97 seats on the Metro Council, while the Democratic Alliance won 26 seats and COPE won 3 seats.