Breede Valley Municipality (; ) is a local municipality located within the

Cape Winelands District Municipality The Cape Winelands District Municipality (; ), formerly the Boland District Municipality, is a district municipality located in the Boland region of the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 787,490. The large ...

, 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 ...

. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,682. Its municipality code is WC025.

Geography

The municipality covers a total area of . It includes a middle section of the

Breede River Valley Breede River Valley is a region of Western Cape Province, South Africa known for being the largest fruit and wine producing valley in the Western Cape, as well as South Africa's leading race-horse breeding area. It is part of the Boland borderin ...

around the town of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

, and stretches up the Hex River valley to the edge of the

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is ...

. It abuts on the

Witzenberg Municipality Witzenberg Municipality (; ) is a local municipality (South Africa), local municipality located within the Cape Winelands District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2022 it had a population of 103,765. Geography ...

to the north, the Laingsburg Municipality to the east, the Langeberg Municipality to the southeast, the Theewaterskloof Municipality to the south, the Stellenbosch Municipality to the southwest and the

Drakenstein Municipality Drakenstein Municipality (; ) is a local municipality (South Africa), local municipality located within the Cape Winelands District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. , it had a population of 251,262. Its municipality code ...

to the west.

Demographics

At the 2022 census, the Breede Valley municipality had a population of 212,682 people, increasing at an annual rate of 2.4% from 2011. 59.1% identified 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 ...

," 30.0% 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 ...

," and 9.5% 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 has a population of 166,825 people in 42,527 households. Of this population, 63.3% describe themselves as "

", 24.3% as "

", and 10.7% 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 76.0% 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 16.1% speak

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

, 2.9% speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and 2.7% speak

Sotho Sotho may refer to: *Sotho people (or ''Basotho''), an African ethnic group principally resident in South Africa, Lesotho and southern Botswana *Sotho language (''Sesotho'' or ''Southern Sotho''), a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa, an offi ...

. Most of the residents of the municipality live in Worcester, which as of 2011 has a population of 97,078. Other towns in the municipality are

Rawsonville Rawsonville is a small wine growing and farming community in the Breede River Valley of the Western Cape province of South Africa. The town forms part of the Breede Valley Local Municipality, and is located in a scenic portion of the valley on ...

(pop. 3,099) close to Worcester in the Breede Valley; De Doorns (pop. 11,278) in the Hex River Valley; and Touws River (pop. 8,126) on the edge of the Karoo.

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 Breede Valley Municipality formed part of the Breërivier Regional Services Council (RSC). The towns of

, De Doorns and Touws River were governed by municipal councils elected by their

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. 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 Worcester, De Doorns and Touws River were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. Zweletemba was governed by a town council established under the

Black Local Authorities Act, 1982 The Black Local Authorities Act of 1982 provided for the establishment of a series of local government structures similar to those operating in the South African Apartheid "White areas". For the first time under Apartheid, African black residents ...

. While the

negotiations to end apartheid The apartheid system in South Africa was ended through a series of bilateral and multi-party negotiations between 1990 and 1993. The negotiations culminated in the passage of a new interim Constitution in 1993, a precursor to the Constitution ...

were taking place a process was established for local authorities to agree on voluntary mergers. In January 1993, the Municipality of Worcester and the Worcester Management Committee merged into a single municipal council. Similar mergers occurred in De Doorns in June 1993 and Touws River in October 1993. 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 transitional local councils (TLCs) were created for each town and village. In October 1994 the Municipality of Worcester and the Zweletemba Town Council were replaced by the Worcester TLC. In December the Municipality of Touws River was replaced by the Touws River TLC; and in January 1995 the municipalities of De Doorns and Rawsonville were both replaced by TLCs. The transitional councils were initially made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when elections were held. At these elections the Breërivier District Council was established, replacing the Breërivier RSC. Transitional representative councils (TRCs) were also elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the District Council; the area that was to become Breede Valley Municipality included most of the Matroosberg TRC. At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Breede Valley Municipality was established as a single local authority. At the same election the Breërivier District Council was also dissolved and replaced by the

Boland District Municipality The Cape Winelands District Municipality (; ), formerly the Boland District Municipality, is a district municipality located in the Boland region of the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 787,490. The larges ...

. In 2011 when District Management Areas were abolished, the eastern boundary of the municipality was extended to include the sparsely populated region to the east of Touws River which had formerly been part of a DMA.

Politics

The municipal council consists of forty-one 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 ...

. Twenty-one 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 twenty-one

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

, while the remaining twenty are chosen from

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

s so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021 no party obtained a majority of seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

References

External links

Official website

Breede Valley Local Municipality on the Western Cape Government website
{{Municipalities of the Western Cape Local municipalities of the Cape Winelands District Municipality