Beaufort West Local Municipality ( af, Beaufort-Wes Plaaslike Munisipaliteit) is a municipality located in

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 202 ...

Province, South Africa. the population is 49,586. Its municipality code is WC053.

Geography

The municipality covers an area of , making it the largest local municipality in the Western Cape and the sixth-largest in South Africa. It is located in the furthest northeastern part of the province in the

Great Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ext ...

. It abuts on the

Karoo Hoogland Municipality Karoo Hoogland is an administrative area in the Namakwa District of Northern Cape in South Africa. Hoogland an Afrikaans word meaning "highland" and Karoo is a Khoi word meaning "hard" or "dry". The name reflects the area which has dry, arid and ...

to the northwest, the

Ubuntu Municipality Ubuntu Local Municipality is a local municipality in the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Its seat is Victoria West; other towns in the municipality are Richmond, Loxton and two small railway ...

to the north, the Dr Beyers Naudé Municipality to the southeast, the

Prince Albert Municipality Prince Albert Municipality is a municipality located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. History At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the Prince Albert Local Municipality formed part of the Central Karoo Regional Serv ...

to the south and the Laingsburg Municipality to the southwest. According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 49,586 people in 13,089 households. Of this population, 73.5% 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. South ...

", 16.3% as " African", and 9.2% as "

White White is the 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 reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

". The

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother to ...

of 84.3% 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 gr ...

, 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 ...

and 2.5% speak English. The main town in the municipality is

Beaufort West Beaufort West (Afrikaans: ''Beaufort-Wes''; Xhosa: ''eBhofolo'') is a town in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is the largest town in the arid Great Karoo region, and is known as the "Capital of the Karoo". It forms part of the Beau ...

, which as of 2011 has a population of 34,085.

Murraysburg Murraysburg is an Afrikaans speaking town of approximately 5,000 people in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated in the far northeast of the municipality, about from the provincial capital Cape Town, and west of Graaff-Reinet. ...

(pop. 5,069) is situated in the far east of the municipality.

Nelspoort Nelspoort is a town located in Beaufort West Local Municipality in the Western Cape, South Africa. The town of Nelspoort lies at the foot of the Nuweveld Mountains, 50 kilometres north-east of Beaufort West on an old section of the N1 highway. ...

(pop. 1,699) is situated northeast of Beaufort West, while Merweville (pop. 1,592) is in the far west 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, the area that is today the Beaufort West Local Municipality was divided between two Regional Services Councils (RSCs): the western part around

formed part of the Central Karoo RSC, while the eastern part around

formed part of the Kamdeboo RSC. The towns of Beaufort West and Murraysburg were governed by municipal councils elected by their

white White is the 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 reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

residents, while 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. South ...

residents of the towns were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. Kwa-Mandlenkosi 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 ...

. 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 December 1994 the Beaufort West TLC replaced the Municipality of Beaufort West, Beaufort West Management Committee and Kwa-Mandlenkosi Town Council. In January 1994 the Murraysburg TLC replaced the Municipality of Murraysburg and Murraysburg Management Committee. In June 1995 the Murraysburg district was removed from the Kamdeboo RSC and added to the Central Karoo RSC. 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 Central Karoo District Council was established, replacing the Central Karoo 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 Beaufort West Local Municipality included Beaufort West and Murraysburg TRCs. At the local elections of December 2000 the transitional councils were dissolved. The Central Karoo District Council was replaced by the

Central Karoo District Municipality The Central Karoo District Municipality (Afrikaans: Sentraal Karoo-distriksmunisipaliteit) is a district municipality located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC5. Geography The Central Karoo District Municipa ...

. The Beaufort West Local Municipality was established as a single local authority covering the area of the Beaufort West TLC and TRC, except for the

Karoo National Park The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hard veld") is a semi- desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ...

which became a District Management Area (DMA). The area of the Murraysburg TLC and TRC also became a DMA. In 2011 DMAs were abolished and these areas were included into the Beaufort West Local Municipality.

Politics

The municipal council consists of thirteen members elected by

mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a mixed electoral system in which votes cast are considered in local elections and also to determine overall party vote tallies, which are used to allocate additional members to produce ...

. Seven 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 the ...

in seven wards, while the remaining six 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 no party obtained a majority of seats on the council. The

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

(ANC) has formed a coalition with the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and the Karoo Democratic Force (KDF) to govern the municipality. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

References

External links

* {{Municipalities of the Western Cape Local municipalities of the Central Karoo District Municipality Karoo