Langeberg Municipality (; ), known before 28 August 2009 as Breede River/Winelands 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 94,045. Its municipality code is WC026.

Geography

The municipality covers a land area of in the Breede River Valley and the west end of the

Little 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 i ...

. The

Langeberg The Langeberg Range is a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its highest peak is Keeromsberg at 2,072 m that lies 15 km northeast of the town of Worcester. Some of the highest peaks of the range are located just ...

mountains run from northwest to southeast through the centre of the municipality, and the

Breede River The Breede River (), also known as Breë River, is a river in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Travelling inland north from the city of Cape Town, the river runs in a west to east direction. The surrounding western mountains formed th ...

flows in the same direction south of the Langeberg. The

Riviersonderend Mountains The Riviersonderend Mountains are a mountain range in the Cape Fold Belt of the Western Cape province of South Africa. They run east to west from Riviersonderend to Villiersdorp, separating the Breede River Valley from the Overberg region. Th ...

form the southern boundary of the municipality and the Koega Mountains form the northern boundary. It abuts on the Breede Valley Municipality to the northwest, the Laingsburg and Kannaland Municipalities to the northeast, the Swellendam Municipality to the southeast, and the Theewaterskloof Municipality to the southwest.

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 94,045, decreasing at a rate of 0.37% annually from 2011. Of this population, 61.7% 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 ...

," 24.5% 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 12.9% 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 97,724 people in 25,125 households. Of this population, 70.3% describe themselves as "

", 16.3% as "

", and 12.3% 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 82.5% 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 10.7% 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 ...

, 3.1% speak English and 1.3% 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 ...

. The largest town in the municipality is

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Plac ...

, which as of 2011 has a population of 27,715. Montagu (pop. 15,176) is situated on the northeastern side of the Langeberg at the entrance to the Cogmanskloof gorge, while Ashton (pop. 13,325), the site of the municipal headquarters, is situated on the other side of the mountains at the gorge's exit. Bonnievale (pop. 9,092) is on the Breede River downstream from Robertson and Ashton, and McGregor (pop. 3,125) is south of Robertson in the foothills of the Riviersonderend Mountains.

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

, Montagu, Ashton, Bonnievale and McGregor 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 these towns were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. Nkqubela and Zolani were governed by town councils 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 McGregor and the McGregor Management Committee merged into a single municipal council. 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. * Montagu TLC replaced the Municipality of Montagu and Montagu Management Committee in October 1994. * Robertson TLC replaced the Municipality of Robertson, Robertson Management Committee and Nkqubela Town Council in November 1994. * Ashton TLC replaced the Municipality of Ashton, Ashton Management Committee and Zolani Town Council in January 1995. * Bonnievale TLC replaced the Municipality of Bonnievale and Bonnievale Management Committee in January 1995. * McGregor TLC replaced the Municipality of McGregor in January 1995. 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 was covered by the Wynland TRC. At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Breede River/Winelands 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 2009 it was renamed the Langeberg Municipality. When District Management Areas were abolished in 2011, the boundary of the municipality was extended to include the sparsely populated region northeast of Montagu, which had formerly been part of a DMA.

Politics

The municipal council consists of twenty-three 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 ...

. Twelve 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 twelve wards, while the remaining eleven 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 won a majority of seats on the council. The DA then formed a majority coalition with the

Freedom Front Plus The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus or FF+; , ''VF Plus'') is a right-wing political party in South Africa that was formed (as the Freedom Front) in 1994. It is led by Corné Mulder. Since 2024, it is a part of the current South African Third Cabin ...

(FF+) to govern the municipality. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

References

External links

Official website

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