Districts of South Africa


The nine provinces of South Africa are divided into 52 districts, which are either metropolitan or district municipalities. They are the second level of administrative division, below the provinces and above the local municipalities.
As a consequence of the 12th amendment of the Constitution in December 2005, which altered provincial boundaries, the number of districts was reduced from 53. Another effect of the amendment is that each district is now completely contained within a single province, thus eliminating cross-border districts. The districts also cover the entire area of the continental republic.

Types of district

There are two types of municipality at the district level. Most of the country is covered by the 44 district municipalities, which are divided into local municipalities and share responsibilities with them. The eight largest urban agglomerations are governed by metropolitan municipalities, which act as both local and district municipalities.

District municipality

A district municipality or Category C municipality is a municipality which executes some of the functions of local government for a district. The district municipality will in turn comprise several local municipalities, with which it shares the functions of local government. Although the word county is not used in legislation, district municipalities are regularly referred to as such informally. The equivalent is also used in other South African languages such as "kontrei" in Afrikaans. District municipalities are seen as successors to former Regional Services Councils.
The Constitution, section 155.1.a, defines "Category C" municipalities. The Municipal Structures Act states that areas not eligible to have a metropolitan municipality must have a district municipality.
District municipalities have a municipality code that consists of the letters "DC" followed by a number from 1 to 48. The "DC" reflects the fact that they were originally named "District Councils".

District management areas

Currently all district municipalities are completely divided into local municipalities. However, before the alteration of municipal boundaries which occurred at the 2011 elections, some areas of the country did not fall within any local municipality. This usually occurred in areas with a very low population density, for example national parks and nature reserves. In these areas, which were known as District Management Areas, all local government services were provided by the district municipality.

List

The following map depicts the provinces and districts of South Africa. The district municipalities are labelled with numbers that correspond to their district code, while the metropolitan municipalities are labelled with letters that correspond to their names. Further details of the districts are listed in the table that follows the image.
Map
key		NameCodeProvinceSeatArea
Population
Pop. density
44Alfred Nzo District MunicipalityEastern CapeMount Ayliff10,731867,86480.9
25Amajuba District MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalNewcastle7,102531,32774.8
12Amathole District MunicipalityEastern CapeEast London21,117880,79041.7
37Bojanala Platinum District MunicipalityNorth WestRustenburg18,3331,657,14890.4
BBuffalo City Metropolitan MunicipalityEastern CapeEast London2,750834,997303.6
2Cape Winelands District MunicipalityWestern CapeWorcester21,473866,00140.3
35Capricorn District MunicipalityLimpopoPolokwane21,7051,330,43661.3
5Central Karoo District MunicipalityWestern CapeBeaufort West38,85474,2471.9
13Chris Hani District MunicipalityEastern CapeQueenstown36,407840,05523.1
CCity of Cape Town Metropolitan MunicipalityWestern CapeCape Town2,4464,005,0161,637.6
JCity of Johannesburg Metropolitan MunicipalityGautengJohannesburg1,6454,949,3473,008.8
TCity of Tshwane Metropolitan MunicipalityGautengPretoria6,2983,275,152520.0
40Dr Kenneth Kaunda District MunicipalityNorth WestKlerksdorp14,671742,82150.6
39Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District MunicipalityNorth WestVryburg43,764459,35710.5
32Ehlanzeni District MunicipalityMpumalangaNelspruit27,8961,754,93162.9
EkEkurhuleni Metropolitan MunicipalityGautengGermiston1,9753,379,1041,710.6
EteThekwini Metropolitan MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalDurban2,5563,702,2311,448.5
20Fezile Dabi District MunicipalityFree StateSasolburg20,668494,77723.9
9Frances Baard District MunicipalityNorthern CapeKimberley12,836387,74130.2
4Garden Route District MunicipalityWestern CapeGeorge23,331611,27826.2
30Gert Sibande District MunicipalityMpumalangaErmelo31,8411,135,40935.7
43Harry Gwala District MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalIxopo10,386510,86549.2
29iLembe District MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalKwaDukuza3,269657,612201.2
14Joe Gqabi District MunicipalityEastern CapeBarkly East25,617372,91214.6
45John Taolo Gaetsewe District MunicipalityNorthern CapeKuruman27,322242,2648.9
28King Cetshwayo District MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalRichards Bay8,213971,135118.2
18Lejweleputswa District MunicipalityFree StateWelkom32,287646,92020.0
MMangaung Metropolitan MunicipalityFree StateBloemfontein9,886787,80379.7
33Mopani District MunicipalityLimpopoGiyani20,0111,159,18557.9
6Namakwa District MunicipalityNorthern CapeSpringbok126,836115,4880.9
NNelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan MunicipalityEastern CapePort Elizabeth1,9571,263,051645.4
38Ngaka Modiri Molema District MunicipalityNorth WestMahikeng28,114889,10831.6
31Nkangala District MunicipalityMpumalangaMiddelburg16,7581,445,62486.3
15OR Tambo District MunicipalityEastern CapeMthatha12,1411,457,384120.0
3Overberg District MunicipalityWestern CapeBredasdorp12,239286,78623.4
7Pixley ka Seme District MunicipalityNorthern CapeDe Aar103,411195,5951.9
10Sarah Baartman District MunicipalityEastern CapePort Elizabeth58,245479,9238.2
42Sedibeng District MunicipalityGautengVereeniging4,173957,528229.5
47Sekhukhune District MunicipalityLimpopoGroblersdal13,5281,169,76286.5
19Thabo Mofutsanyana District MunicipalityFree StatePhuthaditjhaba32,734779,33023.8
21Ugu District MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalPort Shepstone4,791753,336157.2
22uMgungundlovu District MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalPietermaritzburg9,6021,095,865114.1
27uMkhanyakude District MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalMkuze13,855689,09049.7
24uMzinyathi District MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalDundee8,652554,88264.1
23uThukela District MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalLadysmith11,134706,58863.5
34Vhembe District MunicipalityLimpopoThohoyandou25,5961,393,94954.5
36Waterberg District MunicipalityLimpopoModimolle44,913745,75816.6
1West Coast District MunicipalityWestern CapeMoorreesburg31,119436,40314.0
48West Rand District MunicipalityGautengRandfontein4,087838,594205.2
16Xhariep District MunicipalityFree StateTrompsburg34,250125,8843.7
8ZF Mgcawu District MunicipalityNorthern CapeUpington102,484252,6922.5
26Zululand District MunicipalityKwaZulu-NatalUlundi14,799892,31060.3

Boundary alignment

Several projects are underway to align various services with the district boundaries.
These include:
South Africa's official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, believes that the districts add an unnecessary fourth layer of government and has called for them to be eliminated.