Matzikama Local Municipality is a local municipality which governs the northernmost part of the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, including the towns of Vredendal,

Vanrhynsdorp Van Rhynsdorp (Afrikaans: Vanrhynsdorp) is a settlement in West Coast District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Van Rhynsdorp was founded as Trutro ("TroeTroe") after the area was first explored by Europeans in 1661 b ...

, Klawer and Lutzville, and the surrounding villages and rural areas. it had a population of 67,147. It forms part of the West Coast District Municipality, and has municipality code WC011. ''Matzikamma'' is of Khoikhoi origin, the first people of South Africa. It contains the

Khoikhoi language The Khoekhoe language (), also known by the ethnic terms Nama (''Namagowab'') , Damara (''ǂNūkhoegowab''), or Nama/Damara and formerly as Hottentot, is the most widespread of the non-Bantu languages of Southern Africa that make heavy use o ...

words ''ma'' which means "give", ''tsî ''for "you", and ''kamma'', which is ''ǁgamma'' and means "water", and loosely translates into "you that give water".

Geography

The municipality covers a total area of in the northernmost part of the Western Cape province, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the mountains of the Bokkeveld Escarpment in the east. The Olifants River flows through the southern part of the municipal area, while to the north lies the hilly area known as the

Knersvlakte The Knersvlakte is a region of hilly terrain covered with quartz gravel in Namaqualand in the north-west corner of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The name, literally "gnashing plain" in Afrikaans,Kamiesberg Municipality Kamiesberg Local Municipality is in South Africa. Population In 2007 an estimated 12,117 persons lived in Kamiesberg; however, this estimate is very rough. The majority of Kamiesberg's people are coloured (mixed race). Kharkams village represent ...

to the north, the

Hantam Municipality Hantam is an administrative area in the Namakwa District of Northern Cape in South Africa. Hatam is a Khoi name that means "mountains where the bulbs grow". The municipality is named after the Hantam Mountains found in the area. Main places T ...

to the east and the Cederberg Municipality to the south. According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 67,147 people in 18,835 households. Of this population, 74.7% describe themselves as "

Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. Sout ...

", 14.8% as "

White White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...

", and 8.5% as "

Black African Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often ...

". The first language of 91.8% of the population is

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...

, while 3.5% speak Xhosa and 1.8% speak English. The principal town and seat of the council is Vredendal, which is situated in the valley of the Olifants River and has a population (according to the 2011 census) of 18,170. Other large towns in the municipality are Klawer (pop. 6,234) situated upstream from Vredendal, Lutzville (pop. 5,232) situated downstream from Vredendal, and

(pop. 6,272) to the north-east towards the escarpment. In the Olifants River valley there are also smaller agricultural settlements at Ebenhaeser (pop. 1,305) and

Koekenaap Koekenaap is a settlement in West Coast District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by o ...

(pop. 1,551). South of the mouth of the Olifants River are the coastal villages of Doringbaai (pop. 1,260) and Strandfontein (pop. 431). The villages of Bitterfontein (pop. 986),

Kliprand Kliprand is a town in West Coast District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastl ...

(pop. 205), Nuwerus (pop. 650) and

Rietpoort Rietpoort is a settlement in Matzikama Municipality Matzikama Local Municipality is a local municipality which governs the northernmost part of the Western Cape province of South Africa, including the towns of Vredendal, Vanrhynsdorp, Klawer ...

(pop. 970) are situated in the sparsely-populated Knersvlakte in the northern part of the municipality.

History

At the end of the

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

era, in the area that is today Matzikama, there were municipal councils for the towns of Vredendal, Klawer, Lutzville,

and Bitterfontein, and a local council for the villages of Doringbaai and Strandfontein known as the Louis Rood Local Council. These councils were elected by the

white White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...

residents. The

coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. Sout ...

residents of Vredendal, Klawer, Lutzville, Vanrhynsdorp,

, Bitterfontein and Nuwerus were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. The former mission stations of Ebenhaeser and

were governed by management boards, and the remaining rural areas fell under the West Coast Regional Services Council. 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 negotiate voluntary mergers. Several towns in the Matzikama region took part in this process, resulting in each municipal council merging with its corresponding management committee: Klawer in September 1992, Vanrhynsdorp in December 1992, Vredendal in January 1993, and Lutzville 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 total eight TLCs were created. * The Vanrhynsdorp TLC replaced the (merged) Vanrhynsdorp Municipality in December 1994. * The Vredendal TLC replaced the (merged) Vredendal Municipality in December 1994. * The Klawer TLC replaced the (merged) Klawer Municipality in January 1995. * The Doringbaai/Strandfontein TLC replaced the Louis Rood Local Council in January 1995. * The Ebenhaeser TLC replaced the Ebenhaeser Management Board in January 1995. * The Lutzville TLC replaced the (merged) Lutzville Municipality as well as the Koekenaap Management Committee in February 1995. * The Bitterfontein/Nuwerus TLC replaced the Bitterfontein Municipality, the Bitterfontein Management Committee and the Nuwerus Management Committee in February 1995. * The Rietpoort TLC replaced the Rietpoort Management Board in May 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 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 Matzikama was covered by the Vredendal and Vanrhynsdorp TRCs. At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved. The Matzikama Municipality was established, though in 2000 it incorporated only the southern half of the area it governs today. That area included Vredendal, Vanrhynsdorp, Klawer, Lutzville, Ebenhaeser and Doringbaai/Strandfontein. The sparsely populated northern area, including Bitterfontein/Nuwerus and Rietpoort, became a

District Management Area In South Africa, District Management Area (DMA) was the name given to areas within a District municipality (South Africa), district municipality that did not fall within any Local municipality (South Africa), local municipality, and received muni ...

of the West Coast District Municipality. In 2011 this area was incorporated into the Matzikama Municipality when District Management Areas were abolished.

Politics

The municipal council consists of fifteen members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Eight councillors are elected by

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

in eight wards, while the remaining seven 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 ...

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 Democratic Alliance (DA) won a plurality of seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election. In August 2020, the

Hawks Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfa ...

began investigating corruption in the municipality. In August 2021, the Matzikama Local Municipality was flagged as one of the four Western Cape municipalities owing millions of rands to Eskom

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, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since November 2021. After the by-election, the council was reconfigured as below:

References

External links

Official website

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