The Mbhashe Municipality is a rural outpost of the Eastern Cape 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 ...
.
The Mbhashe Municipality was constituted in terms of the Municipal Structures Act. No. 117 of 1998 (as amended) and comprises the areas that previously formed the Elliotdale, Willowvale and
Dutywa
Dutywa (formerly Idutywa) is a town in Mbashe Local Municipality, Eastern Cape province, South Africa, that was founded in 1858 as a military fort after a dispute between a Natal Colony raiding party and its local people.Amathole District Municipality
Amathole is one of the 7 districts of Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of Amathole is East London. Over 90% of its 892,637 people speak Xhosa (2011 Census). The district code is DC12. "Amathole" means calves, the name of the mou ...
's area of jurisdiction. The main administrative office of the Municipality is situated in Dutywa.
Its primary claim to fame is as the birthplace of the former president
Thabo Mbeki
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...
. The Mbanyana Falls, Mbhashe Cultural Village and Donald Wood's Snooker Room number among its attractions.
The name Mbashe is derived from
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 ...
. The municipality is named after the
Mbashe river
Mbhashe River is one of the major rivers in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It flows in a southeastern direction and has a catchment area of 6,030 km. The river drains into the Indian Ocean through an estuary located near the light ...
that cuts through the three areas, namely Xhora ( Elliotdale), Gatyana ( Willowvale) and
Dutywa
Dutywa (formerly Idutywa) is a town in Mbashe Local Municipality, Eastern Cape province, South Africa, that was founded in 1858 as a military fort after a dispute between a Natal Colony raiding party and its local people.AmaXhosa Kingdom at Nqadu Great Place.
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 thirty-two wards, while the remaining thirty-one 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
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) won a majority of forty-five seats on the council.
The following table shows the results of the election.