Swellendam Municipality is a municipality located in the Western Cape Province of

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 ...

. it had a population of 35,916. Its municipality code is WC034.

Geography

The municipality covers an area of around the lower Breede River Valley, from the confluence of the confluence of the Breede River and Sonderend River downstream to the Breede River mouth on the Indian Ocean. It also extends westwards up the Sonderend River and northwards across the Langeberg mountains into the

Little 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 ...

around the Warmwaterberg. The municipality abuts on the Cape Agulhas Municipality to the south, the Theewaterskloof Municipality to the west, the Langeberg Municipality to the northwest, the

Kannaland Municipality Kannaland Municipality ( af, Kannaland Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality located within the Garden Route District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The municipal area is situated in the western part of the Little Kar ...

to the northeast and the Hessequa Municipality to the east. According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 35,916 people in 10,139 households. Of this population, 68.8% 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 ...

", 17.4% 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 on ...

", and 12.4% as " Black African". 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 tongu ...

of 85.1% 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 6.9% speak Xhosa and 4.7% 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 location of the municipal headquarters is Swellendam, which as of 2011 had a population of 17,537.

Suurbraak Suurbraak is a settlement in Overberg District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The village was established in 1812, when the London Missionary Society established a mission station to serve the Attaqua Khoikhoi K ...

(pop. 2,252) is situated east of Swellendam at the southern end of Tradouws Pass which cuts through the Langeberg, while

Barrydale Barrydale is a village located on the border of the Overberg and Klein Karoo regions of the Western Cape Province in South Africa. It was named after Joseph Barry, a well known merchant of the 19th century. It is situated at the northern end of th ...

(pop. 4,156) is at the other end of the pass on the edge of the Little Karoo. Buffeljagsrivier (pop. 1,439) is situated southeast of Swellendam on the river of the same name. Malgas (pop. 44) is located at a

pontoon ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

on the Breede River, the last crossing of the river before it reaches the ocean. Infanta (pop. 90) is situated at the mouth of the river on its southern bank.

History

At 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 early 1990s, there were municipal councils for the towns of Swellendam and

, and a local council for Infanta. 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 on ...

residents of the towns.

residents elected management committees, which were subordinate to the white local authorities, in Railton (Swellendam) and Smitsville (Barrydale). The former mission station of

was governed by a management board, and the remaining rural areas fell under the Overberg Regional Services Council. 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, transitional local councils (TLCs) were created for each town and village. In December 1994 the Swellendam TLC was created, replacing the Municipality of Swellendam and the Railton Management Committee. In January 1995 the Barrydale TLC replaced the Barrydale Municipality and the Smitsville Management Committee. In the same month the Suurbraak TLC replaced the Suurbraak Management Board. In Infanta, where there had been no negotiations, the local council remained in place until October 1995 when it was converted into a TLC. 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

Overberg __NOTOC__ Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the e ...

District Council was established, replacing the Overberg 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 the Swellendam Municipality included most of the Swellendam TRC as well as small areas of the Bredasdorp, Langeberg and Wynland TRCs. At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved, and the Swellendam Municipality was created as a single local authority incorporating both rural and urban areas. In 2011 rural land to the north and west of Barrydale was incorporated into the municipality when

District Management Area In South Africa, District Management Area (DMA) was the name given to areas within a District municipality (South Africa), district municipality that did not fall within any Local municipality (South Africa), local municipality, and received muni ...

s were abolished.

Conservation areas

The most significant conservation areas are: *

Bontebok National Park Bontebok National Park is a species-specific national park in South Africa. It was established in 1931 to ensure the preservation of the Bontebok. It is the smallest of South Africa's 18 National Parks, covering an area of 27.86 km2 The par ...

Marloth Nature Reserve Marloth Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in Swellendam Local Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. It conserves the central Langeberg mountains, between the towns of Swellendam, Ashton, Barrydale and Suurbraak. The reserve includes the ...

in the Langeberg * Sanbona Wildlife Reserve

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 Democratic Alliance (DA) won a majority of six seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

References

External links

Official website

Swellendam Municipality on the Western Cape Government website
{{Authority control Local municipalities of the Overberg District Municipality