# Overberg District Municipality

The Overberg District Municipality (Afrikaans: Overberg-distriksmunisipaliteit; Xhosa: uMasipala weSithili sase Overberg) is a district municipality that governs the Overberg region in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is divided into four local municipalities and includes the major towns of Grabouw, Caledon, Hermanus, Bredasdorp and Swellendam. The municipal area covers 12,241 square kilometres (4,726 sq mi) and had in 2007 an estimated population of 212,787 people in 60,056 households.

## Geography

The Overberg municipal area covers 12,241 square kilometres (4,726 sq mi) lying to the south-east of Cape Town. It stretches from the Hottentots-Holland mountains in the west to the Breede River mouth in the east, and as far as the Riviersonderend Mountains in the north. It includes Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point in Africa, and has coastline on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
The largest town is Grabouw (pop. 44,593) in the Elgin Valley adjacent to the Hottentots-Holland on the north-western edge of the district. The municipal headquarters are located at Bredasdorp (pop. 12,749) in the southern part of the district. Other major towns are Swellendam (pop. 13,557) on the Breede River in the north-east, Caledon (pop. 10,650) in the western interior, and Hermanus (pop. 10,500) on the Atlantic coast.
The Overberg district is divided into four local municipalities, which are described in the following table.
| Name | Seat | Population (2011) | Area (km$^2$) | Density (inhabitants/km$^2$) |
| Theewaterskloof | Caledon | 108,790 | 3,232 | 33.7 |
| Overstrand | Hermanus | 80,432 | 1,708 | 47.1 |
| Cape Agulhas | Bredasdorp | 33,038 | 3,467 | 9.5 |
| Swellendam | Swellendam | 35,916 | 3,835 | 9.4 |
| Total | Total | 258,176 | 12,241 | 21.1 |
It borders on the City of Cape Town to the west, the Cape Winelands District Municipality to the north, and the Garden Route District Municipality to the east.

## Demographics

The following statistics are from the 2011 Census. Note that due to fuzzing applied to statistics, columns may not sum to exactly the indicated total.
| First language LanguagePopulation % Afrikaans176,03770.3% Xhosa44,85717.9% English17,1236.8% Sotho5,3772.1% Tswana1,0020.4% Sign language6750.3% Zulu6290.3% Ndebele4620.2% Northern Sotho2290.1% Tsonga2110.1% Venda1290.1% Swazi880.0% Other3,5741.4% Total250,393 Not applicable7,781 Race RacePopulation % Coloured 139,825 54.2% Black African 66,151 25.6% White 48,692 18.9% Indian or Asian 816 0.3% Other 2,692 1.0% Total 258,176 | Gender GenderPopulation % Male 129,370 50.1% Female 128,806 49.9% Total 258,176 Age Age groupPopulation % 0–422,8048.8% 5–919,6967.6% 10–1419,6347.6% 15–1919,8637.7% 20–2422,3498.7% 25–2925,3259.8% 30–3420,0407.8% 35–3919,0527.4% 40–4418,1597.0% 45–4915,7566.1% 50–5413,3145.2% 55–5910,6744.1% 60–649,9833.9% 65–697,9353.1% 70–746,0122.3% 75–793,7581.5% 80–842,1810.8% 85+9890.4% Total258,176 |

## Politics

The council of the Overberg District Municipality consists of twenty-one councillors. Nine councillors are directly elected by party-list proportional representation, and twelve are appointed by the councils of the local municipalities in the district: five by Theewaterskloof, four by Overstrand, two by Cape Agulhas and one by Swellendam.
After the elections of 3 August 2016, fourteen of the councillors are Democratic Alliance (DA) representatives and seven are African National Congress (ANC) representatives. The mayor is Andries Franken and the deputy mayor is Archibald Klaas; both are members of the DA. The following table shows the composition of the council after the 2016 election.
| Party | Party | Directly elected | Appointed by local councils | Appointed by local councils | Appointed by local councils | Appointed by local councils | Total |
| Party | Party | Directly elected | Theewaterskloof | Overstrand | Cape Agulhas | Swellendam | Total |
| | DA | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| | African National Congress | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
The following table shows the results of the election of the nine directly-elected members on 3 August 2016.
| Party | Party | Votes | Vote % | Seats |
| | DA | 53,502 | 57.9% | 6 |
| | African National Congress | 32,707 | 35.4% | 3 |
| | Economic Freedom Fighters | 1,852 | 2.0% | 0 |
| | Dienslewerings Party | 1,417 | 1.5% | 0 |
| | VF+ | 1,311 | 1.4% | 0 |
| | Independent Civic Organisation | 740 | 0.8% | 0 |
| | United Democratic Movement | 706 | 0.8% | 0 |
| | People's Democratic Movement | 155 | 0.2% | 0 |
| Total | Total | 92,390 | | 9 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 92,390 | 97.9% |
| Spoilt votes | Spoilt votes | 1,934 | 2.1% |
| Total votes cast | Total votes cast | 94,324 | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 148,602 |
| Turnout percentage | Turnout percentage | 63.5% |