Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality

Karoo Hoogland
Local municipality
Seal
Location in the Northern Cape
Coordinates: 31°45′S21°15′E / 31.750°S 21.250°E / -31.750; 21.250
Country	South Africa
Province	Northern Cape
District	Namakwa
Seat	Williston
Wards	6
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Anthony Mietas (PA)
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) [2]
•  Black African	5.5%
•  Coloured	78.9%
•  Indian/Asian	0.7%
•  White	14.6%
First languages (2011) [3]
•  Afrikaans	96.3%
•  English	1.3%
• Other	2.4%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	NC066

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.

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

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

Main article: Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality elections

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

1. "Munisipaliteit". Karoo Hoogland Municipality. 2023-07-05. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
2. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
3. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
4. South African Languages - Place names
5. "First COPE mayor sworn in". IOL. Sapa. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
6. "Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality". Census 2011.
7. "Results Summary - All Ballots" (PDF). Electoral Commission of South Africa. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
8. "Seat Calculation Detail" (PDF). Electoral Commission of South Africa. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
9. 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

• Official website