Bitou Municipality (; ), formerly known as Plettenberg Bay Municipality, is a local municipality within the

Garden Route District Municipality The Garden Route District Municipality (; ), formerly known as the Eden District Municipality, is a district municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC4. Geography The Garden Route District Muni ...

, in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Its municipality code is WC047.

Geography

The municipality covers an area of between the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

and the Tsitsikamma Mountains around the town of

Plettenberg Bay Plettenberg Bay, nicknamed Plett, is the primary town of the Bitou Local Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. According to the census of 2001, the town had a population of 29,149. It was originally named Bahia Formosa ("Be ...

. It is the easternmost municipality on the coast of the Western Cape, with its eastern edge at the Bloukrans River forming the border with the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

. It abuts on the

Knysna Municipality Knysna Municipality (; ) is a Local municipality (South Africa), local municipality within the Garden Route District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2022, its population is 96,055. Its municipal code is WC048. Ge ...

to the west, the George Municipality to the northwest, and the Kou-Kamma Municipality to the east.

Demographics

The

2022 South African census The South African National Census of 2022 is the 4th comprehensive census performed by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The census results were released on 10 October 2023 and recorded a total of 62 million people in the country. Key findi ...

reported a population of 65,240 in the municipality, increasing at an annual rate of 2.8% since 2011. 52.6% of this population identified as "

Black African Black is a racial classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and ofte ...

," 28.8% as "

Coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

," and 16.5% as "

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

." According to the 2011 census the municipality had a population of 49,162 people in 16,645 households. Of this population, 45.2% describe themselves as "

", 31.2% as "

", and 16.9% as "

". The

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

of 43.4% of the population is

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

, while 38.0% speak Xhosa and 13.3% speak English. A majority of residents of the municipality live in the town of

, which in 2011 had a population of 31,804. On the other side of the

Keurbooms River The Keurbooms River () is a river in the Western Cape Province in South Africa. The river has its sources south of Uniondale, Western Cape, Uniondale in the Langkloof and flows in a roughly southeastern direction. It passes De Vlugt and the Prin ...

mouth from Plettenberg Bay is the coastal resort of Keurboomstrand (pop. 475), while the resort of

Nature's Valley Nature's Valley is a holiday resort and small village on the Garden Route along the southern Cape coast of South Africa. Nature's Valley lies between the Salt River, the foothills of the Tsitsikamma Mountains, the Indian Ocean and the Groot Rive ...

(pop. 460) is situated further east at the mouth of the Groot River. The Griqua settlement of

Kranshoek Kranshoek is a settlement in Garden Route District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces ...

(pop. 5,597) is situated west of Plettenberg Bay. In the interior of the municipality are villages at Kurland (pop. 4,033) and Wittedrif (pop. 1,822).

History

At the end of the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

era, the area that is today the Bitou Municipality formed part of the South Cape Regional Services Council (RSC). The town of

was governed by a municipal council elected by the

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

residents while the

coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

residents of New Horizons were governed by a management committee subordinate to the white council. The village of Kurland was also governed by a management committee, while the Griqua settlement at

was governed by a board of management. The villages of Wittedrif, Keurboomstrand and

were governed by local councils. After the national elections of 1994 a process of local government transformation began, in which negotiations were held between the existing local authorities, political parties, and local community organisations. As a result of these negotiations, the existing local authorities were dissolved and the Greater Plettenberg Bay Transitional Local Council (TLC) was established to replace all of them in December 1994. The TLC was initially made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when elections were held. At the time of these elections the South Cape District Council was established in place of the South Cape RSC, and transitional representative councils (TRCs) were elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the District Council. The area that was to become Bitou Municipality included a part of the Outeniqua TRC. At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Plettenberg Bay Municipality was established as a single local authority. At the same election the South Cape District Council was dissolved and replaced by the Eden District Municipality. In 2003 the Plettenberg Bay Municipality was renamed the Bitou Municipality.

Politics

The municipal council consists of thirteen members elected by

mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral system, mixed electoral systems which combine local Winner-take-all system, winner-take-all elections with a Compensation (el ...

. Seven councillors are elected by

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

in seven wards, while the remaining six 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 18 May 2011 no party obtained a majority; the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) won six seats each, with the remaining seat going to the Congress of the People (COPE). The DA and COPE formed a coalition to govern the municipality. The DA won a ward from the ANC in a by-election held in 2014, and governed Bitou alone with an outright majority of seats on the council. A hung council was elected following the 2016 municipal elections, with the DA and ANC each winning six seats, and the final seat going to the Active United Front (AUF). The AUF chose to join forces with the ANC. However, six months later, in April 2017, the AUF announced that the partnership had fallen apart because the ANC had frustrated attempts to establish clean administration, had failed to commit resources to address problems, had not implemented the coalition agreement, and had not signed the agreed-upon service delivery plan. The DA and AUF negotiated for a month, following which the DA gained control of the municipality. The relationship between the DA and AUF quickly sourced and the AUF was back with the ANC a year later. In April 2021, AUF mayor Peter Lobese was ousted in a motion of no confidence and deputy mayor Sandiso Gcabayi of the ANC became acting mayor. DA Caucus Leader Bill Nel was elected mayor in May 2021, toppling the ANC-led coalition. The ANC then challenged the election of Bill Nel and the Western Cape High Court declared his election null and void and declared that a new mayor should be elected on 8 June. However, on 8 June, this did not happen. ANC speaker Euan Wildeman suspended Lobese, which made ineligible to cast a vote for mayor, leading to a split vote between the DA's Nel and the ANC's Gcabayi. The DA then approached the High Court, requesting that Lobese's suspension be declared unlawful. the High Court sided with the DA and declared Lobese's unlawful, which made it null and void. The High Court also ordered the speaker to convene a council meeting for 9 July. The meeting was then delayed as the ANC councillors appealed the High Court's decision. On 10 September, the High Court overturned its initial decision to declare the suspension of Lobese's council membership unlawful. In the November 2021 local government elections, a hung council was once again elected. The DA won five out of the thirteen seats, the ANC won four, the Ikhwezi Political Movement (IPM), the Patriotic Alliance (PA), the PDC and the Active United Front (AUF) all won one seat. The DA then formed a coalition with the PDC and AUF to govern the municipality with the DA mayoral candidate, Dave Swart, voted in as mayor. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

References

External links

Bitou Local Municipality Official Website

Bitou Municipality - Old Website
{{Municipalities of the Western Cape Local municipalities of the Garden Route District Municipality