Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, Free State

Mangaung is a Sesotho name meaning "place of Cheetahs". Legend has it that when the first settlers arrived, they were stunned by the vast Plains that were roamed freely by cheetahs. Before the municipal Elections of 18 May 2011 Mangaung was a local Municipality under the Motheo District Municipality. The Motheo District was disenabled on 18 May 2011. When this happened; of its three constituent local Municipalities: Mangaung was upgraded to become an autonomous metropolitan Municipality, Naledi became part of Xhariep, and Mantsopa became part of Thabo Mofutsanyane. The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is located in the Free State Province, in the center of South Africa. The Free State is bordered by six provinces, namely Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West provinces, as well as the neighboring Country of Lesotho. The Municipality was formed after the local Government elections in May 2011, and has been a local Municipality since 2000 by amalgamating the Transitional Local Councils of Bloemfontein, Botshabelo, Thaba Nchu and two Rural Councils. The Municipality is working to integrate the City and ensure that previously disadvantaged Communities are spatially linked to the rest of the City. Being the sixth largest City in the Country, the Mangaung Municipal hosts a population of about 850 000 people. The languages spoken in the Area are mainly Sesotho, Afrikaans, English and Setswana. Mangaung, meaning “Place of the Cheetah”, accentuates the vibrant, dynamic and energetic character of the Tourism Industry in the “City on the move”. Mangaung remains the seat for the Supreme Court Of Appeal (formerly the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court) and is therefore generally regarded as the Judicial Capital.