Breede Valley Local Municipality

The municipality covers a total area of 3,833 square kilometres (1,480 sq mi). It includes a middle section of the Breede River Valley around the town of Worcester, and stretches up the Hex River valley to the edge of the Karoo. It abuts on the Witzenberg Municipality to the north, the Laingsburg Municipality to the east, the Langeberg Municipality to the southeast, the Theewaterskloof Municipality to the south, the Stellenbosch Municipality to the southwest and the Drakenstein Municipality to the west.

According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 166,825 people in 42,527 households. Of this population, 63.3% describe themselves as "Coloured", 24.3% as "Black African", and 10.7% as "White". The first language of 76.0% of the population is Afrikaans, while 16.1% speak Xhosa, 2.9% speak English and 2.7% speak Sotho.[4]

Most of the residents of the municipality live in Worcester, which as of 2011 has a population of 97,078.[5] Other towns in the municipality are Rawsonville (pop. 3,099) close to Worcester in the Breede Valley; De Doorns (pop. 11,278) in the Hex River Valley; and Touws River (pop. 8,126) on the edge of the Karoo.

At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the Breede Valley Municipality formed part of the Breërivier Regional Services Council (RSC). The towns of Worcester, Rawsonville, De Doorns and Touws River were governed by municipal councils elected by their white residents. The coloured residents of Worcester, De Doorns and Touws River were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. Zweletemba was governed by a town council established under the Black Local Authorities Act, 1982.

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 Worcester and the Worcester Management Committee merged into a single municipal council. Similar mergers occurred in De Doorns in June 1993 and Touws River in October 1993.

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 October 1994 the Municipality of Worcester and the Zweletemba Town Council were replaced by the Worcester TLC. In December the Municipality of Touws River was replaced by the Touws River TLC; and in January 1995 the municipalities of De Doorns and Rawsonville were both replaced by TLCs.

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 included most of the Matroosberg TRC.

At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Breede Valley 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. In 2011 when District Management Areas were abolished, the eastern boundary of the municipality was extended to include the sparsely populated region to the east of Touws River which had formerly been part of a DMA.

The municipal council consists of forty-one members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-one councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-one wards, while the remaining twenty 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 2021 election.[6]

• Official website
• Breede Valley Local Municipality on the Western Cape Government website