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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, including the towns of

Vredendal Vredendal is a town in the northern Olifants River Valley in the Western Cape province of South Africa, with a population (according to the 2001 census) of 16,164 people. It is situated north of Cape Town on the banks of the Olifants River at th ...

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 by P ...

Klawer Klawer is a town in the Matzikama Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated on the right bank of the Olifants River, south-east of Vredendal and north of Cape Town. According to the 2011 census it has a populat ...

and

Lutzville Lutzville is a settlement in West Coast District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It resides under the Matzikama Local Municipality. Village 22 km north-west of Vredendal and 45 km west of Vanrhynsdorp. Established in A ...

, and the surrounding villages and rural areas. it had a population of 67,147. It forms part of the

West Coast District Municipality The West Coast District Municipality is a district municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC1. Moorreesburg is the seat of the district. As of 2011 it had a total population of 391,766. Geograp ...

, and has municipality code WC011. ''Matzikamma'' is of

Khoikhoi Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

origin, the first people of South Africa. It contains the Khoikhoi language 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 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 Th ...

to the east and the

Cederberg Municipality Cederberg Local Municipality is a local municipality which governs an area of the Western Cape province of South Africa stretching from the Cederberg mountains through the middle valley of the Olifants River to the Atlantic coast. It includes ...

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", 14.8% 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 o ...

", and 8.5% as "

Black African Black is a Racialization, racialized 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 ...

". 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 gra ...

, while 3.5% 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 1.8% speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. The principal town and seat of the council is

, 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

(pop. 6,234) situated upstream from Vredendal,

(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 Ebenhaeser is a settlement in West Coast District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. A mission station of the Rhenish Missionary Society at the mouth of the Olifants River in the former Vanrhynsdorp Van Rhynsdorp (Afri ...

(pop. 1,305) and Koekenaap (pop. 1,551). South of the mouth of the Olifants River are the coastal villages of

Doringbaai Doringbaai is a settlement in West Coast District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Doringbaai, previously known as Doornbaai, is a small fishing village. The main economic activity is the packaging and export of crayfish ...

(pop. 1,260) and Strandfontein (pop. 431). The villages of

Bitterfontein Bitterfontein is a village in the Knersvlakte, the northernmost area of the Western Cape province of South Africa, north of Cape Town. It is the railhead of a line from Cape Town; ore from the copper mines at Okiep is transferred there from road t ...

(pop. 986), Kliprand (pop. 205),

Nuwerus Nuwerus is a settlement in Matzikama Municipality, West Coast District in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Village 16 km south-east of Bitterfontein and 70 km north-west of Vanrhynsdorp Van Rhynsdorp (Afrikaans: Vanrhynsdorp) is a set ...

(pop. 650) and Rietpoort (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

and

, and a local council for the villages of

and Strandfontein known as the Louis Rood Local Council. These councils were elected by the

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 o ...

residents. The coloured residents of Vredendal, Klawer, Lutzville, Vanrhynsdorp, Koekenaap, Bitterfontein and

were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. The former mission stations of

and Rietpoort were governed by management boards, and the remaining rural areas fell under the West Coast Regional Services Council. While the negotiations to end apartheid 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 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 thei ...

in eight wards, while the remaining seven 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 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 subfamily ...

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 Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. It was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). Eskom repre ...

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