Lephalale

Lephalale (also known as Ellisras), is a coal mining town in the Limpopo province of South Africa immediately north of the Waterberg Massif. The town was established as Ellisras in 1960 and named after the original farm owners, Patrick Ellis and Piet Erasmus. Ellisras was renamed Lephalale in 2002 by the provincial government of Limpopo, much to the chagrin of the Afrikaaners. Lephalale is the main river that crosses the municipality.

Economy

The Economy of Lephalale is dominated by farming, mining by and electricity production . Other activities include tourism and businesses. The Matimba Power Station at Lephalale is the largest dry cooled coal power station in the world. The power station is fed directly from Grootegeluk Coal Mine next to it. Grootegeluk is an open cast terrace mining operation for coal from the Waterberg coal field. It produces more than 17 million tonnes of coal product per year, and provides jobs for many people from Ellisras, Onverwacht and Marapong. The mine is operated by South African company Exxaro (after the unbundling of Kumba Resources and Exxaro).

The town is set to undergo huge expansions with the advent of the new, sixpack, Medupi Power Station to be operated by Eskom and the increased coal delivery from Grootegeluk Mine. The mine is planning to build two more coal beneficiation plants, a char plant and is moving towards a seven day work week (conops).

Extentions

The town is divided into three major extension, Ellisras, Onverwacht and Marapong. Marapong is further divided into Marapong, Extention 1, 2, and 3.

chools

Lephalale has both primary schools and high schools. Though a number of these schools are government owned, only one is privately owned(King's College). The schools are;

Bosveld Primary School;
Nelsonskop Primary School;
Ellisras Primary School;
Hoerskool Ellisras;
Phegelelo High School;
King's College;and
Lephalale College.

Politics

Lephalale is part of the Lephalale Municipality, which is the biggest municipality in the Limpopo Province, previously known as the Northern Province, in terms of geographical size, about 19 605 square kilometers. Lephalale Municipality has a population of 105 000. The main town in the municipality is Lephalale (Ellisras), situated between 23 degrees 30` and 24 degrees 00` south latitude and 27 degrees 30`and 28 degrees 00`east longitude. Distinctive bushveld landscape stretches from the Limpopo river in the west to the Waterberg in the south east. Lephalale town is positioned west of the Mokolo river, a tributary to the Limpopo river, 820 meters above sea level.

The Lephalale Council consists of a total of 24 Councillors, of which a total of 12 are ward councillors whilst 12 are proportionally elected. The current Mayor is Mrs NR Mogotlane from the ANC.

Demography

According to the 2001 census conducted by Statistics South Africa, the population of the greater Lephalale municipality, is 58,986, of which 89.3% are African, 10.5% white and 0.2% Coloured and Asian. The white population is likely to have been undercounted, a common problem with the 2001 census.

References

http://www.lephalale.com/?