Saldanha Bay Local Municipality


Saldanha Bay Municipality is a local municipality located within the West Coast District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. it had a population of 99,193. Its municipality code is WC014.

Geography

The municipality covers a total area of which includes the West Coast Peninsula and stretches southeast to include the West Coast National Park and the area around Hopefield. It abuts on the Bergrivier Municipality to the north and the Swartland Municipality to the east and south.
According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 99,193 people in 28,835 households. Of this population, 55.8% describe themselves as "Coloured", 24.5% as "Black African", and 18.0% as "White". The first language of 72.5% of the population is Afrikaans, while 16.4% speak Xhosa, 6.6% speak English and 1.2% speak Sotho.
The seat of the municipality and its largest town is Vredenburg, which is situated in the center of the eponymous peninsula and according to the 2011 census has a population of 38,382. To the south of Vredenburg is the harbour town of Saldanha on the edge of Saldanha Bay. There are several other fishing and holiday towns on the coast of the municipality: St Helena Bay on the northern coast of the Vredenburg Peninsula, Paternoster and Jacobsbaai on the western coast of the peninsula, and Langebaan on the opposite side of Saldanha Bay from Saldanha. In the interior of the municipality is the town of Hopefield and the village and air force base at Langebaanweg.

Politics

The municipal council consists of twenty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Fourteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in fourteen wards, while the remaining thirteen 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 the Democratic Alliance obtained a majority of seventeen seats on the council.
The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.
The local council sends five representatives to the council of the West Coast District Municipality: three from the Democratic Alliance and two from the African National Congress.