Witzenberg Local Municipality

Witzenberg Municipality is a local municipality located within the Cape Winelands District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011 it had a population of 115,946.[2]

Witzenberg
Local municipality
Seal
Location in the Western Cape
Coordinates: 33°00′S 19°40′E
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	Cape Winelands
Seat	Ceres
Wards	12
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Cllr. Barnito Klaasen (Democratic Alliance)
• Municipal Manager	David Nasson
Area
• Total	10,753 km^2 (4,152 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	115,946
• Density	11/km^2 (28/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	25.3%
• Coloured	65.9%
• Indian/Asian	0.2%
• White	7.7%
First languages (2011) [3]
• Afrikaans	75.2%
• Xhosa	16.6%
• Sotho	4.5%
• English	2.0%
• Other	1.7%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	WC022

Geography

The municipality covers an area of 10,753 square kilometres (4,152 sq mi) which includes the Land van Waveren (Tulbagh) valley, the Warm Bokkeveld, the Koue Bokkeveld and the Ceres-Karoo. It stretches from the Groot Winterhoek Mountains in the west and the Hex River Mountains in the south as far as the Northern Cape provincial border in the north and east. It abuts on the Hantam Municipality to the north, the Karoo Hoogland Municipality to the northeast, the Laingsburg Municipality to the southeast, the Breede Valley Municipality to the south, the Drakenstein Municipality to the southwest, the Bergrivier Municipality to the west and the Cederberg Municipality to the northwest.

According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 115,946 people in 27,419 households. Of this population, 65.9% describe themselves as "Coloured", 25.3% as "Black African", and 7.7% as "White". The first language of 75.2% of the population is Afrikaans, while 16.6% speak Xhosa, 4.5% speak Sotho and 2.0% speak English.[4]

The principal town and location of the municipal head office is Ceres on the eastern slope of the Skurweberg mountains, which as of 2011 has a population of 33,224.[5] To the west of Ceres, on the other side of the mountains, is the Land van Waveren valley with the towns of Wolseley (pop. 12,130)[6] and Tulbagh (pop. 8,969).[7] To the north of Ceres is the town of Prince Alfred Hamlet (pop. 6,810),[8] and further north, in the Koue Bokkeveld, the village of Op-die-Berg (pop. 1,531).[9] There are a number of informal settlements: Pine Valley, Chris Hani, Mooiblom, Zibonele, Polocross, Die Gaatjie and Kleinbegin.[10] In addition in Ward 2, Dwarsrivier, is the settlement of Romansrivier. Other settlements include: Tulbagh Road, Steinthal, Drostdy, Waterval, Kluitjieskraal, Breede River Station, and Prince Alfred Hamlet Station.[11]

Politics

The municipal council consists of twenty-three members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twelve councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twelve wards, while the remaining eleven 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 2016 no party obtained a majority of seats. The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.[12][13][14]

Party		Votes				Seats
		Ward	List	Total	%	Ward	List	Total
	Democratic Alliance	10,886	10,985	21,871	46.0	7	4	11
	African National Congress	7,497	7,861	15,358	32.3	5	3	8
	Witzenberg Aksie	1,172	1,201	2,373	5.0	0	1	1
	Independent Civic Organisation	873	944	1,817	3.8	0	1	1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	773	783	1,556	3.3	0	1	1
	Congress of the People	389	423	812	1.7	0	1	1
	Land Claims Fighters	424	337	761	1.6	0	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	349	327	676	1.4	0	0	0
	Freedom Front Plus	324	302	626	1.3	0	0	0
	Democratic Association of Witzenberg Independence	312	264	576	1.2	0	0	0
	Patriotic Alliance	221	270	491	1.0	0	0	0
	Independent	426	–	426	0.9	0	–	0
	People's Democratic Movement	170	70	240	0.5	0	0	0
Total		23,816	23,767	47,583		12	11	23
Valid votes		23,816	23,767	47,583	98.1
Spoilt votes		432	475	907	1.9
Total votes cast		24,248	24,242	48,490
Total voter turnout		24,282
Registered voters		46,980
Turnout percentage		51.7

The eleven councillors from the Democratic Alliance (DA) formed a coalition with the single councillor from the Congress of the People (COPE) to govern the municipality.[15] The local council sends three representatives to the council of the Cape Winelands District Municipality: two from the Democratic Alliance and one from the African National Congress.[15]

Municipal Leadership

Name	Title
David Nasson	Municipal Manager
Cobus Kritzinger	Director: Finance
Joseph Barnard	Director: Technical Services
Monwabisi Mpeluza	Director: Corporate Services
Jo-Ann Krieger	Director: Community Services

Partners

Since 2002 Witzenberg has an official town twinning agreement with the town Essen in Belgium. The city-to-city cooperation consists of sustainable development programs in the vulnerable areas concerning youth, local economic development and environment.

References

1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
2. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
3. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
4. "Witzenberg Local Municipality". Census 2011.
5. Sum of the Main Places Bella Vista, Ceres and eNduli from Census 2011.
6. Sum of the Main Places Wolseley, Pine Valley and Montana from Census 2011.
7. Main Place Tulbagh from Census 2011.
8. Main Place Prince Alfred Hamlet from Census 2011.
9. Main Place Op-die-Berg from Census 2011.
10. "Municipal Profile: Witzenberg Municipality" (PDF). Western Cape Government. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 October 2018.
11. Dennis Moss Partnership (2012). "Other towns and settlements in Witzenberg". Witzenberg Spatial Development Framework (PDF). pp. 82–83. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 October 2018.
12. "Results Summary – All Ballots: Witzenberg" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
13. "Seat Calculation Detail: Witzenberg" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
14. "Voter Turnout Report: Witzenberg" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
15. "Political composition of councils February 2017" (PDF). Western Cape Department of Local Government. February 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.

External links

• Official website
• Witzenberg Local Municipality on the Government Communication and Information Systems website