Garden Route District Municipality

Garden Route Eden
District municipality
Seal
Location in South Africa
Local municipalities within the Garden Route District
Coordinates: 33°45′S22°00′E / 33.750°S 22.000°E / -33.750; 22.000
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Seat	George
Local municipalities	List Kannaland Hessequa Mossel Bay George Oudtshoorn Bitou Knysna
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Andrew Stroebel (DA)
Area
• Total	23,331.1 km2 (9,008.2 sq mi)
Population  (2022) [2]
• Total	838,457
• Density	35.9/km2 (93/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2022) [2]
•  Black African	27.8%
•  Coloured	49.7%
•  Indian/Asian	0.3%
•  White	19.6%
First languages (2011) [3]
•  Afrikaans	70.8%
•  Xhosa	18.3%
•  English	7.5%
• Other	3.4%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	DC4
Website	www.gardenroute.gov.za

The Garden Route District Municipality (Afrikaans : Tuinroete-distriksmunisipaliteit; Xhosa : uMasipala weSithili sase Garden Route), formerly known as the Eden District Municipality, ^[4] is a district municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC4.

Geography

The Garden Route District Municipality covers an area of 23,331 square kilometres (9,008 sq mi) in the southeastern part of the Western Cape, covering the regions known as the Garden Route and the Little Karoo. It stretches to the Breede River mouth and the Langeberg mountains on the west, where it abuts the Overberg District Municipality and (for a short distance) the Cape Winelands District Municipality. To the north the boundary with the Central Karoo District Municipality runs along the Swartberg mountains. In the east the municipality runs up to the Eastern Cape provincial boundary.

The district is divided into seven local municipalities, described in the following table.

Name	Seat	Population (2022) [2]	Area (km2)	Density (inhabitants/km2)
Kannaland [5]	Ladismith	31,986	4,765.4	6.7
Hessequa [6]	Riversdale	71,918	5,732.6	12.5
Mossel Bay [7]	Mossel Bay	140,075	2,001	70.0
George [8]	George	294,929	5,191	56.8
Oudtshoorn [9]	Oudtshoorn	138,257	3,540.4	39.1
Bitou [10]	Plettenberg Bay	65,240	991.9	65.8
Knysna [11]	Knysna	96,055	1,108.8	86.6
Total		838,457	23,331.1	35.9

Demographics

The following statistics are from the 2011 Census ^[12] and the 2022 Census. ^[2]

First language (2011) Language Population % Afrikaans 397,462 70.8% Xhosa 102,740 18.3% English 42,266 7.5% Sotho 3,412 0.6% Tswana 2,675 0.5% Zulu 1,960 0.3% Sign language 1,856 0.3% Ndebele 1,014 0.2% Tsonga 739 0.1% Northern Sotho 654 0.1% Venda 527 0.1% Swazi 296 0.1% Other 5,687 1.0% Total 561,288 Not applicable 12,975 Race (2022) Race Population % Coloured 416,542 49.7% Black African 232,882 27.8% White 164,589 19.6% Indian/Asian 2,816 0.3% Other 21,628 2.6% Total 838,457

Gender (2022) Gender Population % Female 431,377 51.4% Male 407,080 48.6% Total 838,457 Age (2022) Age group Population % 0–4 64,010 7.6% 5–14 121,769 14.5% 15–34 266,976 31.8% 35–59 261,901 31.2% 60+ 123,775 14.8% Total 838,457

Politics

The council of the Garden Route District Municipality consists of thirty-five councillors. Fourteen councillors are directly elected by party-list proportional representation, and twenty-one are appointed by the councils of the local municipalities in the district: six by George, four by Mossel Bay, three each by Oudtshoorn and Knysna, two each by Hessequa and Bitou, and one by Kannaland.

After the election of 3 August 2016 there are twenty-one councillors from the Democratic Alliance (DA), twelve from the African National Congress (ANC), and one each from the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (ICOSA) and the African Independent Congress (AIC). ^[13]

The following table shows the detailed composition of the council. ^[13]

Party		Directly elected	Appointed by local councils							Total
			Kannaland	Hessequa	Mossel Bay	George	Oudtshoorn	Bitou	Knysna
	DA	8	1	1	3	3	2	1	2	21
	ANC	5		1	1	2	1	1	1	12
	Independent Civic Organisation	1								1
	AIC					1				1

The following table shows the results of the election of the fourteen directly elected councillors. ^{[14] [15]}

Party		Votes	Vote %	Seats
	DA	106,242	53.2%	8
	ANC	61,755	30.9%	5
	Independent Civic Organisation	10,791	5.4%	1
	VF+	3,965	2.0%	0
	EFF	3,604	1.8%	0
	AIC	3,380	1.7%	0
	Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners	2,592	1.3%	0
	ACDP	2,439	1.2%	0
	COPE	1,804	0.9%	0
	South African Religious Civic Organisation	1,018	0.5%	0
	South Africa Civics	858	0.4%	0
	Knysna Unity Congress	525	0.3%	0
	Democratic New Civic Organisation	378	0.2%	0
	Christian Democrats	314	0.2%	0
	George Independent Ratepayers Forum	163	0.1%	0
Total		199,828		14
Valid votes		199,828	98.1%
Spoilt votes		3,819	1.9%
Total votes cast		203,647
Registered voters		326,165
Turnout percentage		62.4%

References

1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
2. "Provinces at a Glance" (PDF). Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
3. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
4. "Eden District Municipality name to change to Garden Route District Municipality" (Press release). George: Garden Route District Municipality. 29 May 2018. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
5. "Kannaland Local Municipality". The Local Government Handbook. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
6. "Hessequa Local Municipality". The Local Government Handbook. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
7. "Mossel Bay Local Municipality". The Local Government Handbook. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
8. "George Local Municipality". The Local Government Handbook. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
9. "Oudtshoorn Local Municipality". The Local Government Handbook. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
10. "Bitou Local Municipality". The Local Government Handbook. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
11. "Knysna Local Municipality". The Local Government Handbook. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
12. Census 2011 statistical tables accessible through Stats SA SuperWEB Archived September 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine .
13. "Political composition of councils February 2017" (PDF). Western Cape Department of Local Government. February 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
14. "Detailed DC 40% Ballot Results Report: DC4 - Eden" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
15. "Seat Calculation Detail: DC4 - Eden" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 4 June 2017.

External links

• Garden Route District Municipality official website