Langeberg Municipality (before 28 August 2009, Breede River/Winelands Local Municipality) is a local municipality located within the

Cape Winelands District Municipality The Cape Winelands District Municipality, formerly the Boland District Municipality, is a district municipality located in the Boland region of the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 787,490. The largest tow ...

in 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 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 ...

. As of 2011 it had a population of 97,724. Its municipality code is WC026.

Geography

The municipality covers a land area of in the

Breede River Valley Breede River Valley is a region of Western Cape Province, South Africa known for being the largest fruit and wine producing valley in the Western Cape, as well as South Africa's leading race-horse breeding area. It is part of the Cape Winelands, B ...

and the west end of 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 ...

. The

Langeberg The Langeberg Range is a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its highest peak is Keeromsberg at 2,075 m that lies 15 km northeast of the town of Worcester. Some of the highest peaks of the range are located just to ...

mountains run from northwest to southeast through the centre of the municipality, and the

Breede River The Breede River ( af, Breederivier), also known as Breë River, is a river in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Travelling inland north from the city of Cape Town, the river runs in a west to east direction. The surrounding western mou ...

flows in the same direction south of the Langeberg. The

Riviersonderend Mountains The Riviersonderend Mountains are a mountain range in the Cape Fold Belt of the Western Cape province of South Africa. They run east to west from Riviersonderend to Villiersdorp, separating the Breede River Valley from the Overberg region. They ...

form the southern boundary of the municipality and the Koega Mountains form the northern boundary. It abuts on the

Breede Valley Municipality Breede Valley Municipality is a local municipality located within the Cape Winelands District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2007, it had a population of 166,825. Its municipality code is WC025. Geography The ...

to the northwest, the Laingsburg and Kannaland Municipalities to the northeast, the

Swellendam Municipality Swellendam Municipality is a municipality located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. 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, fr ...

to the southeast, and the

Theewaterskloof Municipality Theewaterskloof Municipality is a local municipality located within the Overberg District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2007, the population was 108,790. Its municipality code is WC031. The enormous Theewaterskl ...

to the southwest. According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 97,724 people in 25,125 households. Of this population, 70.3% 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 "

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 ...

", and 12.3% 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 ...

". 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 82.5% 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 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 ...

, 3.1% 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 ...

and 1.3% speak

Sotho Sotho may refer to: *Sotho people (or ''Basotho''), an African ethnic group principally resident in South Africa, Lesotho and southern Botswana * Sotho language (''Sesotho'' or ''Southern Sotho''), a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa, an off ...

. The largest town in the municipality is

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Places ...

, which as of 2011 has a population of 27,715. Montagu (pop. 15,176) is situated on the northeastern side of the Langeberg at the entrance to the Cogmanskloof gorge, while Ashton (pop. 13,325), the site of the municipal headquarters, is situated on the other side of the mountains at the gorge's exit. Bonnievale (pop. 9,092) is on the Breede River downstream from Robertson and Ashton, and

McGregor McGregor may refer to: People * McGregor (surname) * Clan MacGregor, a Scottish highland clan * McGregor W. Scott (born 1962), U.S. attorney Characters * Mr. McGregor, a fictional character from Peter Rabbit Places in Canada: * McGregor Lake ...

(pop. 3,125) is south of Robertson in the foothills of the Riviersonderend Mountains.

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 Langeberg Municipality formed part of the Breërivier Regional Services Council (RSC). The towns of

, Montagu, Ashton, Bonnievale and

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 on ...

residents. 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 these towns were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. Nkqubela and Zolani were governed by town councils 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 ...

. While the negotiations to end apartheid were taking place a process was established for local authorities to agree on voluntary mergers. In January 1993, the Municipality of McGregor and the McGregor Management Committee merged into a single municipal 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, the existing local authorities were dissolved and transitional local councils (TLCs) were created for each town and village. * Montagu TLC replaced the Municipality of Montagu and Montagu Management Committee in October 1994. * Robertson TLC replaced the Municipality of Robertson, Robertson Management Committee and Nkqubela Town Council in November 1994. * Ashton TLC replaced the Municipality of Ashton, Ashton Management Committee and Zolani Town Council in January 1995. * Bonnievale TLC replaced the Municipality of Bonnievale and Bonnievale Management Committee in January 1995. * McGregor TLC replaced the Municipality of McGregor in January 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 Breërivier District Council was established, replacing the Breërivier 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 Breede Valley Municipality was covered by the Wynland TRC. At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Breede River/Winelands Municipality was established as a single local authority. At the same election the Breërivier District Council was also dissolved and replaced by the

Boland District Municipality The Cape Winelands District Municipality, formerly the Boland District Municipality, is a district municipality located in the Boland region of the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 787,490. The largest tow ...

. In 2009 it was renamed the Langeberg 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 in 2011, the boundary of the municipality was extended to include the sparsely populated region northeast of Montagu, which had formerly been part of a DMA.

Politics

The municipal council consists of twenty-three 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 ...

. Twelve 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 twelve

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 eleven 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 won a majority of seats on the council. The DA then formed a majority coalition with the

Freedom Front Plus The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus; af, Vryheidsfront Plus, ''VF Plus'') is a right-wing political party in South Africa that was formed (as the Freedom Front) in 1994. It is led by Pieter Groenewald. Its current stated policy positions include ab ...

(FF+) to govern the municipality. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

References

External links

Official website

Breede River/Winelands Local Municipality on the Western Cape Government website
{{Municipalities of the Western Cape Local municipalities of the Cape Winelands District Municipality