Laingsburg Local Municipality


Laingsburg Municipality is a municipality located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. the population is 8,289. Its municipality code is WC051.

Geography

The municipality covers an area of on the south-western edge of the Great Karoo. The southern edge of the municipality lies along the Anysberg and Swartberg mountains, while its northern edge is the provincial border with the Northern Cape. It abuts on the Beaufort West and Prince Albert Municipalities to the east, the Kannaland Municipality to the south, the Langeberg, Breede Valley and Witzenberg Municipalities to the west, and the Karoo Hoogland Municipality to the north.
According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 8,289 people in 2,408 households. Of this population, 79.0% describe themselves as "Coloured", 13.3% as "White", and 7.0% as "Black African". The first language of 94.3% of the population is Afrikaans, while 1.7% speak English and 1.2% speak Xhosa.
The principal settlement in the municipality is the town of Laingsburg, which as of 2011 has a population of 5,667. West of Laingsburg is the village of Matjiesfontein, population 422.

Politics

The municipal council consists of seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Four councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in four wards, while the remaining three 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 3 August 2016 no party obtained a majority; the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance won three seats each, and the Karoo Ontwikkelings Party won the remaining seat. Initially the DA and KOP formed a coalition to govern the municipality, but in March 2017 the KOP broke with the DA and formed a new coalition with the ANC.
The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.
The local council sends one representative to the council of the Central Karoo District Municipality. that councillor is from the Democratic Alliance.