Knysna Local Municipality

Coordinates: 34°00′S 23°00′E / 34.000°S 23.000°E / -34.000; 23.000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Knysna
Local municipality
UTC+2 (SAST
)
Municipal codeWC048

Knysna Municipality (

Afrikaans: Knysna Munisipaliteit; Xhosa: uMasipala wase Knysna) is a local municipality within the Garden Route District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, the population is 68,659.[2]
Its municipal code is WC048.

Geography

The municipality covers an area of 1,109 square kilometres (428 sq mi) between the

Bitou Municipality
to the east.

According to the

White". The first language of 51.2% of the population is Afrikaans, while 28.4% speak Xhosa and 15.4% speak English.[3]

Most of the residents of the municipality live in the town of

Sedgefield (pop. 8,361) and Buffelsbaai (pop. 71). Away from the coast are agricultural settlements at Rheenendal (pop. 3,936) and Karatara
(pop. 880).

History

At the end of the

Noetzie
were governed by local councils.

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 Knysna TLC replaced the Municipality of Knysna and Hornlee Management Committee. In December 1994 Sedgefield TLC replaced the Municipality of Sedgefield, Smutsville Management Committee and Buffelsbaai Local Council. These transitional councils were made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations. In October 1995 the local councils of Belvidere Estate, Brenton-on-Sea and Noetzie, and the Rheenendal Management Committee, were all converted to TLCs without negotiations and with the existing councillors retained in office.

In May 1996 elections were held for all the TLCs. At the time of these elections the South Cape District Council was established in place of the South Cape RSC, and transitional representative councils (TRCs) were elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the District Council. The area that was to become Knysna Municipality included part of the Outeniqua TRC.

At the

Eden District Municipality
. In 2011 the Hoogekraal Plantation area north of Sedgefield was transferred from George Municipality to Knysna Municipality.

Politics

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of the Western Cape
Constitution
List of acts of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament
Executive
Premier

The Hon Alan Winde MMP

Provincial Cabinet
Provincial Parliament
Western Cape Parliament

The Sixth Provincial Parliament

Speaker

Masizole Mnqasela MMP
Deputy Speaker
Beverley Schäfer MMP

Chief Whip of the Majority Party
Mireille Wenger MMP
Leader of the Opposition
Cameron Dugmore MMP
Chief Whip of the Official Opposition
Pat Lekker MMP

Judiciary
Western Cape Division
Administrative divisions
List of municipalities in the Western Cape
Elections
Provincial:

Municipal:

Related topics
Other provinces
Main article: Knysna Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of twenty-one members elected by

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 Democratic Alliance (DA) then formed a minority coalition government with the Knysna Independent Movement (KIM). At the first council meeting on 22 November 2021, the DA's Julie Lopes was elected speaker, followed by the DA's Levael Davis as mayor and Mark Willemse from KIM as deputy mayor with the help of the lone councillor from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).[4]

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.[5]

Knysna local election, 1 November 2021
Party Votes Seats
Ward List Total % Ward List Total
Democratic Alliance 8,176 8,421 16,597 35.4% 5 3 8
African National Congress 7,660 7,889 15,549 33.2% 6 1 7
Knysna Independent Movement 1,901 1,797 3,698 7.9% 0 2 2
Patriotic Alliance
 1,725 1,729 3,454 7.4% 0 2 2
Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners 1,109 1,052 2,161 4.6% 0 1 1
Economic Freedom Fighters 558 610 1,168 2.5% 0 1 1
Independent candidates
 573 – 573 1.2% 0 – 0
14 other parties 1,840 1,797 3,637 7.8% 0 0 0
Total 23,542 23,295 46,837 11 10 21
Valid votes 23,542 23,295 46,837 98.3%
Spoilt votes 361 458 819 1.7%
Total votes cast 23,903 23,753 47,656
Voter turnout 23,906
Registered voters 42,790
Turnout percentage 55.9%

History

Joy Cole was first elected mayor under the DA in December 2000 but defected in the September 2004 floor-crossing to become an ANC-aligned independent and reconstituted the council under ANC control. Cole formed a broad-based coalition of the ANC and DA after the March 2006 local government elections when neither party had obtained an outright majority. After Cole resigned in December 2006 to pursue another career, Doris Wakeford-Brown of the DA formed a multi-party coalition. This short-lived coalition collapsed in May 2007 when the Knysna Civic Alliance switched allegiances to the ANC, which brought Eleanore Bouw-Spies in as the new mayor. In the September 2007 floor crossing window the two civic party councillors defected to the ANC, giving the party an outright majority of 9 seats out of 16. Bouw-Spies' term as mayor ended when the DA won an absolute majority in the 2011 election and Georlene Wolmarans was elected mayor. In the 2016 election the DA fell short of an absolute majority, but formed a coalition with the ACDP and an independent councillor. Bouw-Spies, who had crossed to the DA in 2014, returned for a second term as mayor.[6]

Bouw-Spies was removed as mayor after an ANC-initiated vote of no confidence in June 2018. The motion was supported by two DA councillors, Mark Willemse and Peter Myers. Willemse was then elected as the new mayor with COPE member Ricky van Aswegen as deputy mayor.[7] The DA has instituted disciplinary action against its two members, but the matter has dragged on into 2019 without a solution as of yet.

Mayors

References

  1. ^ "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  3. ^ "Knysna Local Municipality". Census 2011.
  4. ^ Hunter, Zintle Mahlati, Juniour Khumalo, Jan Gerber and Qaanitah. "New political era: DA reaps the rewards as opposition parties kick ANC to the curb". News24. Retrieved 2021-11-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Knysna". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  6. ^ "DA falls short of a majority in Knysna". The Citizen. ANA. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Mark Willemse new Executive Mayor of Knysna". Knysna-Plett Herald. Retrieved 2023-11-16.

External links

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