Summary
Karoo Hoogland Municipality (Afrikaans: Karoo Hoogland Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality within the Namakwa District Municipality, in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The municipality incorporates the towns of Williston, Fraserburg and Sutherland. Although the towns are separated by more than 100 km by road, they share many administrative tasks.
Karoo Hoogland | |
|---|---|
 Seal | |
 Location in the Northern Cape | |
| Coordinates: 31°45′S 21°15′E / 31.750°S 21.250°E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Northern Cape |
| District | Namakwa |
| Seat | Williston |
| Wards | 6 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipal council |
| • Mayor | Johan van der Colff (DA) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 32,274 km2 (12,461 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[2] | |
| • Total | 12,588 |
| • Density | 0.39/km2 (1.0/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 5.5% |
| • Coloured | 78.9% |
| • Indian/Asian | 0.7% |
| • White | 14.6% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Afrikaans | 96.3% |
| • English | 1.3% |
| • Other | 2.4% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Municipal code | NC066 |
Hoogland is an Afrikaans word meaning "highland" and Karoo is a Khoekhoe word meaning "hard" or "dry". The name reflects the area which has dry, arid and desert-like conditions.[4]
In 2011, Karoo Hoogland elected the first mayor from the Congress of the People (COPE) party, Jan Julies, and a COPE-DA coalition took control of the council after the election of 18 May 2011.[5] This lasted until the 2016 elections.
Main places edit
The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places:[6]
| Place | Code | Area (km2) | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fraserburg | 367003 | 98.9 | 3,029 |
| Sutherland | 367004 | 36.0 | 2,836 |
| Williston | 367001 | 77.9 | 3,368 |
| Remainder | 367002 | 32,061.1 | 3,356 |
| Total | 32,273.9 | 12,588 | |
Politics edit
The municipal council consists of eleven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Six councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in six wards, while the remaining five 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 no party obtained a majority of seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.[7][8]
| Karoo Hoogland local election, 1 November 2021 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | Seats | ||||||
| Ward | List | Total | % | Ward | List | Total | ||
| African National Congress | 1,815 | 1,803 | 3,618 | 40.8% | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| Democratic Alliance | 1,337 | 1,335 | 2,672 | 30.2% | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| Patriotic Alliance | 962 | 994 | 1,956 | 22.1% | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Freedom Front Plus | 229 | 225 | 454 | 5.1% | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Congress of the People | 42 | 60 | 102 | 1.2% | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Economic Freedom Fighters | 29 | 29 | 58 | 0.7% | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 4,414 | 4,446 | 8,860 | 6 | 5 | 11 | ||
| Valid votes | 4,414 | 4,446 | 8,860 | 98.7% | ||||
| Spoilt votes | 64 | 57 | 121 | 1.3% | ||||
| Total votes cast | 4,478 | 4,503 | 8,981 | |||||
| Voter turnout | 4,507 | |||||||
| Registered voters | 7,250 | |||||||
| Turnout percentage | 62.2% | |||||||
On 8 December 2022 the PA/ANC coalition collapsed during a no confidence motion brought by the DA. Consequently the PA mayor Anthony Mietas was replaced by the DA’s Johan van der Colff.[9]
References edit
- ^ "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
- ^ a b "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
- ^ "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
- ^ South African Languages - Place names
- ^ "First COPE mayor sworn in". IOL. Sapa. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
- ^ "Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality". Census 2011.
- ^ "Results Summary - All Ballots" (PDF). Electoral Commission of South Africa. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ "Seat Calculation Detail" (PDF). Electoral Commission of South Africa. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ Cruywagen, Vincent (8 December 2022). "MUNICIPAL POLITICS: Another coalition crumbles as Patriotic Alliance mayor and Speaker are deposed in Karoo Hoogland". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
External links edit
- Official website