Kannaland Local Municipality

At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the Kannaland Municipality was divided between two Regional Services Councils (RSCs): the northern part around Ladismith, Zoar and Calitzdorp formed part of the Klein Karoo RSC, while the southern part around Van Wyksdorp formed part of the South Cape RSC. The towns of Ladismith, Calitzdorp and Van Wyksdorp were governed by municipal councils elected by their white residents. The coloured residents of Nissenville (Ladismith) and Calitzdorp were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. The mission settlement of Zoar was governed by a board of management.

While the negotiations to end apartheid were taking place a process was established for local authorities to agree on voluntary mergers. In November 1993, the Municipality of Calitzdorp and the Calitzdorp 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. In December 1994 Ladismith TLC replaced the Municipality of Ladismith and the Nissenville Management Committee. In January 1995 Calitzdorp TLC replaced the Municipality of Calitzdorp, and Zoar TLC replaced the Zoar Management Board. In October 1995 Vanwyksdorp Municipality was also 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 Regional Services Councils were replaced by District Councils (DCs), and transitional representative councils (TRCs) were elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the DCs. The area that is today Kannaland included the Ladismith and Calitzdorp TRCs under the Klein Karoo DC as well as part of the Langeberg TRC under the South Cape DC.

At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Kannaland Municipality was established as a single local authority. At the same election the Klein Karoo and South Cape District Councils were also dissolved and replaced by the Eden District Municipality.

The December 2000 local government elections returned a council of four Democratic Alliance (DA) councillors, four African National Congress (ANC) councillors, and one Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) councillor.[5] A short-lived coalition led by the DA took power after the December 2000 local government elections, but it collapsed when the single PAC councillor withdrew his support, and the ANC took control of the council in March 2001.

The March 2006 local government elections returned a council of four ANC councillors, two DA councillors, two Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (ICOSA) councillors, and one Independent Democrats (ID) councillor.[6] An ANC/DA coalition took power until this coalition collapsed in August 2006 and was replaced by a coalition between the DA and ICOSA. This coalition collapsed in September 2007 when two ICOSA and three ANC councillors crossed the floor to the new National People's Party (NPP), giving that party a majority of five seats in a council which at that time consisted of nine members. The DA refused to recognize the new NPP-led council administration as it alleged that the 2 ICOSA defectors were sacked prior to the floor-crossing window being open, and it challenged the council recomposition in the Western Cape High Court. The former mayor refused to step down pending the outcome of the case.

In 2011 the auditor-general declared that he could not give a clear statement about the financial situation in the municipality because the records are missing and no one seemed to know where they were.[7] After almost a decade of financial problems an attempt to restore order was underway in 2011 [8]

In the election of 18 May 2011 the council was reduced in size to seven seats. No party obtained a majority; ICOSA won three seats while the ANC and the DA won two each.[9] ICOSA and the ANC formed a coalition to govern the municipality.[10]

The election of 3 August 2016 left the party composition of the council unchanged.[11] The DA and ANC councillors formed a coalition to govern without ICOSA,[12] but DA national leadership said that the coalition had not been authorized.[13] In March 2017 the ANC recalled its councillors to put an end to the coalition.[14] However the mayor has not been recalled despite the national ANC structures stating that this would happen. A motion of no confidence in the mayor and speaker of the municipality was put forward in August 2017. The motion failed with the DA and ANC in the municipality against the motion, leaving the ANC mayor Magdalene Barry in power.[15] The Democratic Alliance spokesperson on local government stated that the party would side with the ANC in order to keep the Independent Civic Organisation away from the public purse. This follows forensic evidence detailing financial misconduct that amounted to more than R14 million under Jeffrey Donson's tenure.[16]

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.[17]