The Carletonville Herald serves the area that falls under the jurisdiction of the Merafong City Local Municipality.

This area encloses some of the richest gold mines in the world. It is situated about 65km from Johannesburg and is serviced by a number of major roads, including the N12 from Johannesburg to Cape Town and the N14 (the main road between Gauteng and Mafikeng via Ventersdorp).

Merafong's historical development is also closely connected to the discovery of rich gold deposits in the early 1930s. Several towns from part of the Merafong municipal area. The town Carletonville was named after Guy Carleton Jones, an engineer from the Gold Fields Ltd mining company, who played a prominent role in the discovery of the West Wits gold field, of which

Carletonville forms a part. The mining company decided in November 1946 to establish the town. Carletonville was proclaimed in 1948 and attained Town Council Status on 1 July 1959.

Fochville is the oldest town in the region, and was declared a town in 1951.

Wedela is situated between Western Deep Levels and Elandsrand mine. The town's name is derived from the prefixes of the two mines: the "Wed-" from Western Deep Levels and the "-ela" from Elandsrand. Wedela was established as a mining village in December 1978 by Harry Oppenheimer, and municipal status was granted to the town on 1 January 1990.

Attached to Fochville and Carletonville are the towns of Khutsong, Kokosi, Greenspark, Welverdiend, and Blybank. The area also includes several mining villages.

Formerly a cross-border municipality, the entire municipality was transferred to the North West province following the abolition of cross-border municipalities by an amendment to the South African Constitution in 2005. The municipality was part of the North West Province from 2005 to 2009, when it was reincorporated into the Gauteng Province by another amendment to the Constitution, following often violent protests in the township of Khutsong.