Prince Albert Local Municipality

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Prince Albert Municipality (Afrikaans: Prins Albert Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Prince Albert
Official seal of Prince Albert
Location in the Western Cape
Location in the Western Cape
Coordinates: 33°00′S 22°00′E / 33.000°S 22.000°E / -33.000; 22.000
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceWestern Cape
DistrictCentral Karoo
SeatPrince Albert
Wards4
Government
 • TypeMunicipal council
 • MayorLinda Jaquet (DA)
Area
 • Total8,153 km2 (3,148 sq mi)
Population
 (2022)[2]
 • Total17,836
 • Density2.2/km2 (5.7/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2022
 • Black African1.7%
 • Coloured89.5%
 • Indian/Asian0.1%
 • White7.0%
First languages (2011)
 • Afrikaans93.5%
 • English3.6%
 • Other2.9%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal codeWC052

History

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At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the Prince Albert Local Municipality formed part of the Central Karoo Regional Services Council (RSC). The town of Prince Albert was governed by a municipal council elected by the white residents, while the coloured residents were governed by a management committee subordinate to the white council. Bitterwater (Leeu-Gamka) was also governed by a management committee subordinate to the RSC.

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, in January 1995 the municipality and management committee of Prince Albert were both dissolved and the Prince Albert Transitional Local Council (TLC) was created to replace them. In the same month the Bitterwater management committee was also replaced by the Leeu-Gamka TLC.

The TLCs were initially made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when elections were held. At the time of these elections the Central Karoo District Council was established in place of the Central Karoo 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 Prince Albert Local Municipality was covered by the Prince Albert TRC.

At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRC were all dissolved and the Prince Albert Local Municipality was established as a single local authority. At the same election the Central Karoo District Council was dissolved and replaced by the Central Karoo District Municipality.

Politics

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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 1 November 2021 no party obtained a majority of seats.

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.[4]

Prince Albert local election, 1 November 2021
Party Votes Seats
Ward List Total % Ward List Total
Democratic Alliance 2,103 2,091 4,194 37.4% 2 1 3
Karoo Gemeenskap Party 1,220 1,247 2,467 22.0% 2 0 2
Patriotic Alliance 805 802 1,607 14.3% 0 1 1
African National Congress 619 595 1,214 10.8% 0 1 1
8 other parties 839 881 1,720 15.4% 0 0 0
Total 5,586 5,616 11,202 4 3 7
Valid votes 5,586 5,616 11,202 98.5%
Spoilt votes 81 89 170 1.5%
Total votes cast 5,667 5,705 11,372
Voter turnout 5,714
Registered voters 8,073
Turnout percentage 70.8%

By-elections

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The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period from the election in November 2021.

Date Ward Party of the previous councillor Party of the newly elected councillor
14 September 2022[5] 4 Karoo Gemeenskap Party Democratic Alliance

The by-election took place after the Karoo Gemeenskap Party (KGP), in a coalition with the African National Congress (ANC) and Patriotic Alliance (PA), expelled its ward councillor and mayor Margy Jaftha for supporting the Democratic Alliance (DA) in a motion to replace the speaker and the deputy mayor with DA representatives. Jaftha subsequently stood for the DA against KGP leader Goliat Lottering, winning the seat, and earning the DA an outright majority on the council. This resulted in the DA's Linda Jaquet being elected as the executive mayor, while Jaftha was elected the speaker of council. [6]

References

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  1. ^ "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Prince Albert (Local Municipality, South Africa)". Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location. 2022-02-02. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
  3. ^ "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  4. ^ "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Prince Albert". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  5. ^ "Municipal By-elections results - Electoral Commission of South Africa". results.elections.org.za. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  6. ^ Sussman, Wayne (2022-09-15). "SEPTEMBER BY-ELECTIONS: DA triumphs in Prince Albert nail-biter while IFP bucks trend to shock ANC in KZN". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
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