George Local Municipality

George
Local municipality
Seal
Location of George Local Municipality within the Western Cape
Coordinates: 33°45′S 22°50′E / 33.750°S 22.833°ECoordinates: 33°45′S 22°50′E / 33.750°S 22.833°E
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	Eden
Seat	George
Wards	25
Government[1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Charles Standers (DA)
Area
• Total	5,191 km^2 (2,004 sq mi)
Population (2011)[2]
• Total	193,672
• Density	37/km^2 (97/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)[2]
• Black African	28.2%
• Coloured	50.4%
• Indian/Asian	0.5%
• White	19.7%
First languages (2011)[3]
• Afrikaans	67.2%
• Xhosa	21.6%
• English	8.1%
• Other	3.1%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)
Municipal code	WC044

George Municipality is a municipality located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. As of 2011 the population is 193,672.^[2] Its municipality code is WC044.

Geography

The municipality covers an area of 5,191 square kilometres (2,004 sq mi) in the Garden Route and Little Karoo regions. It includes the coastal plateau around the city of George, and extends northeast over the Outeniqua Mountains to include the eastern end of the Little Karoo as far as the Swartberg mountains and the boundary with the Eastern Cape province. It abuts on the Mossel Bay Municipality to the west, the Oudtshoorn Municipality to the northwest, the Baviaans Municipality to the northeast, the Kou-Kamma Municipality to the east, and the Bitou and Knysna Municipalities to the southeast.

According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 193,672 people in 53,551 households. Of this population, 50.4% describe themselves as "Coloured", 28.2% as "Black African", and 19.7% as "White". The first language of 67.2% of the population is Afrikaans, while 21.7% speak Xhosa and 8.1% speak English.^[4]

The majority of the residents of the municipality are in the city of George, which as of 2011 has a population of 157,394.^[5] Close to George are the coastal resorts of Herolds Bay (pop. 704) and Wilderness (pop. 6,164). Haarlem (pop. 2,376) and Uniondale (pop. 4,525) are in the interior of the municipality at the top of the Langkloof.

Politics

The municipal council consists of forty-nine members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-five councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-five wards, while the remaining twenty-four 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 18 May 2011 the Democratic Alliance (DA) won a majority of twenty-five seats on the council

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.^[6][7]

Party		Votes				Seats
		Ward	List	Total	%	Ward	List	Total
	Democratic Alliance	28,155	28,491	56,646	50.8	16	9	25
	African National Congress	21,720	22,156	43,876	39.3	9	10	19
	Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners	1,668	1,573	3,241	2.9	0	1	1
	Independent Civic Organisation	927	851	1,778	1.6	0	1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	786	696	1,482	1.3	0	1	1
	George Independent Ratepayers Forum	813	568	1,381	1.2	0	1	1
	Congress of the People	511	515	1,026	0.9	0	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	436	370	806	0.7	0	0	0
	National People's Party	250	237	487	0.4	0	0	0
	South Cape Community Forum	134	113	247	0.2	0	0	0
	Independent	209	–	209	0.2	0	–	0
	United Democratic Movement	75	134	209	0.2	0	0	0
	Ou Pacaltsdorp Inwoners Vereniging	–	155	155	0.1	–	0	0
	African People's Convention	14	–	14	0.0	0	–	0
Total		55,698	55,859	111,557	100.0	25	24	49
Spoilt votes		737	555	1,292

The local council sends six representatives to the council of the Eden District Municipality: three from the Democratic Alliance, two from the African National Congress and one from the African Christian Democratic Party.^[8]

References

1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
2. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
3. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
4. "George Local Municipality". Census 2011.
5. Sum of the Main Places George and Thembalethu from Census 2011.
6. "Results Summary – All Ballots: George" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
7. "Seat Calculation Detail: George" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
8. "Political composition of councils" (PDF). Western Cape Department of Local Government. August 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.

External links

• http://www.george.org.za/