Kamiesberg Local Municipality is in

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 countri ...

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 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 ...

(mixed race). Kharkams village represents, in many ways, the typical village in Kamiesberg: the average education level is 6.7 years; electricity reached the village in 1999; water is available in nearly every house; villagers have access to health care once a week. Sheep and goats are kept on villager-owned land between Kamiesberg's eleven villages.

Topography and climate

Kamiesberg municipality spans three topographic zones. The area stretches from the sandy coastal lowlands ( Sandveld) to the mountainous central Kamiesberg escarpment (

Hardveld Veld ( or ), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in :Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Bot ...

), and to the eastern plateau of

Bushmanland Bushmanland (Boesmanland in Afrikaans) may refer to: * Bushmanland (South West Africa), a bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia) * Bushmanland, Northern Cape Bushmanland is an arid area south of the Orange River and west of Kenhar ...

. There are no perennial rivers in the area. Water is obtained from subterranean sources. Some of the water is pumped up by windmills, but most of the water to the communal areas is from natural springs. Many of these springs are semi-perennial, and the salt content of the water can vary from year to year, causing problems. In 2003 the rainfall was in Springbok ( north of Kamiesberg). Rainfall has on average decreased from 1970 to 1994.

Soils and vegetation

Four main types of vegetation are found in the area: Mountains Renosterveld,

Succulent Karoo The Succulent Karoo is a ecoregion defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature to include regions of desert in South Africa and Namibia, and a biodiversity hotspot. The geographic area chosen by the WWF for what they call 'Succulent Karoo' does no ...

, False Succulent Karoo and Namaqualand Broken Veldt. However, overall plant life is in a deteriorating state, and non-edible, undesirable and poisonous vegetation is taking over.

Sources of household income in Kamiesberg

A survey (2003) of three communal villages in Kamiesberg (only 74 ''saailande'' owners) showed the following sources of household income: wage labour (49%), government transfers (28%), small business (11%), remittances (6%), livestock income (3%) and farm income (3%).

Communal institutions

Like every other municipality in Namaqualand, Kamiesberg is governed by formal institutions. The most important formal institutions are: Kamiesberg Municipality located in

Garies Garies is a small agricultural centre situated in South Africa's Northern Cape province about 110 km south of Springbok, the chief town of the Namaqualand district. Current population approximately 1500. The Letterklip provincial heritag ...

, the Common Management Committee (Meentcommetee), the Old Local Council and Transitional Local Councils (TLCs).

Main places

The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places:

Politics

The municipal council consists of eleven 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 ...

. Six 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 six

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

, 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 ...

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 Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

(ANC) won a majority of six seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Local municipalities of the Namakwa District Municipality