Cederberg Municipality () is a local municipality which governs an area of 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 stretching from the

Cederberg The Cederberg mountains are located near Clanwilliam, Western Cape, Clanwilliam, approximately 300 km north of Cape Town, South Africa at about . The mountain range is named after the endangered Clanwilliam cedar (''Widdringtonia cedarbe ...

mountains through the middle valley of the Olifants River to the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

coast. It includes the towns of Clanwilliam, Citrusdal and Lamberts Bay, and the surrounding villages and farms. it had a population of 49,768. It is located within the West Coast District Municipality and its municipality code is WC012.

Geography

The municipality covers a total area of , stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Doring River in the east. The Olifants River flows from south to north through the center of the municipal area. The

mountains rise from the eastern bank of the river. To the west of the river are lower ranges of hills descending to the coastal plain. The municipality abuts on the Matzikama Municipality to the north, the

Hantam Municipality Hantam Municipality () is a local municipality within the Namakwa District Municipality, in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. ''Hantam'' is a Khoekhoe word that means "mountains where the bulbs grow". The municipality is named after th ...

to the east, and the Witzenberg and Bergrivier Municipalities to the south.

Demographics

The population of the Cederberg Municipality was 55,108 people according to the 2022 census, an annual increase of 0.99% from 2011. Those identifying 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 ...

" comprised 68.9% of the population, followed by "

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 ...

" at 21.8% and "

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 ...

" at 7.9%. According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 49,768 people in 13,513 households. Of this population, 75.7% describe themselves as "

", 12.7% as "

", and 11.0% as "

". The first language of 88.7% 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 5.0% 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 ...

, 2.5% speak Sotho and 1.9% speak English. The principal towns of the municipality are Clanwilliam (pop. 7,674) and Citrusdal (pop. 7,177) in the Olifants River valley, and Lambert's Bay (pop. 6,120) on the coastline. There are smaller agricultural settlements at Graafwater (pop. 2,261) and Leipoldtville (pop. 298), and a coastal village at Elands Bay (pop. 1,525).

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, in the area that is today the Cederberg Municipality, there were municipal councils for the towns of Clanwilliam, Citrusdal, Lambert's Bay, and Graafwater. These councils were 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 the towns were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. Rural areas fell under the West Coast Regional Services Council (RSC), while in Elands Bay there was a local council for white residents and a management committee for coloured residents under the authority of the RSC. While the negotiations to end apartheid were taking place a process was established for local authorities to negotiate voluntary mergers. The four towns in the Cederberg area took part in this process, which resulted in the municipalities merging with their respective management committees to form new non-racial municipalities: Citrusdal in March 1992, Clanwilliam in April 1992, Lambert's Bay in June 1993, and Graafwater in January 1994. 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 January 1995 the municipalities of Clanwilliam, Citrusdal, and Lambert's Bay were replaced by TLCs, and Graafwater followed in the following month. In December 1994, the Elands Bay local council and management committee were merged into the

Piketberg Piketberg (also sometimes spelt Piquetberg in the past) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa, located about 80 km east of Saldanha Bay. The original spelling of the name was "Piquetberg". The town is in the foothills of the Piketberg mount ...

TLC (the rest of which lies outside the Cederberg area). 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 West Coast District Council was established, replacing the West Coast Regional Services Council. Transitional representative councils (TRCs) were also elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the District Council; the area that was to become Cederberg Municipality included the Clanwilliam TRC and parts of the Piketberg and Vanrhynsdorp TRCs. At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Cederberg Municipality was established as a single local authority incorporating both rural and urban areas. In 2011 the Cederberg Wilderness Area, previously a District Management Areas, was added to the municipality when District Management Areas were abolished.

Politics

The municipal council consists of eleven 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 ...

. Six 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 six wards, while the remaining five 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, 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 a plurality of seats on the council. On 12 November, the Cederberg First Residents Association (CFRA), Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) announced a coalition agreement, with the CFRA getting the position of mayor, and the FF+ deputy mayor. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

By-elections from November 2021

The following

by-elections A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since the election in November 2021. After the 2021 election, Cederberg First (or Cederberg Eerste, CE) (3), the DA (2) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) (1) formed a coalition. A motion of no-confidence in CE mayor Ruben Richards, after he was accused of corruption, was later passed with the support of one DA councillor, the speaker William Farmer. Farmer was then elected mayor with the support of the ANC and PA. Farmer was subsequently expelled from the DA, and joined the

Patriotic Alliance The Patriotic Alliance (PA) is a right-wing political party in South Africa, formed in November 2013 by, among others, businessmen and convicted criminals Gayton McKenzie and Kenny Kunene. Since 2024, it is a part of the current South African ...

(PA), standing as their candidate during the by-election. The new DA candidate increased the party's share of the vote, retaining the seat for the DA, and restoring the previous CE, DA and FF+ coalition government.

References

External links

Official website

Cederberg Local Municipality on the Western Cape Government website
{{Municipalities of the Western Cape Local municipalities of the West Coast District Municipality Cederberg Local Municipality