# Blouberg Local Municipality

Blouberg Municipality (Northern Sotho: Mmasepala wa Blouberg) is a local municipality within the Capricorn District Municipality, in the Limpopo province of South Africa, bordering Botswana. It takes its name from the Blouberg (literally meaning "blue mountain" in Afrikaans), a mountain range located to the west of the western end of the Soutpansberg mountain range, north west of the town of Vivo. Blouberg is home to some of the most spectacular rock climbing in South Africa. The rock climbing destination is famous for its big wall natural climbing with route lengths up to 350m. The vegetation ranges from sub-tropical savanna at the base, to alpine near the summit.

## Demography

According to the 2001 census conducted by Statistics South Africa, the population of the greater Blouberg municipality was 161,314, of whom 99.4% are African, 0.5% white, 0.1% Coloured and 0.1% Asian.

## Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:
| Place | Code | Area (km$^2$) | Population | Most spoken language |
| Alldays | 90901 | 11.75 | 385 | Northern Sotho |
| Bahanawa | 90902 | 390.17 | 19,068 | Northern Sotho |
| Bahanawa-Ba-Kibi | 90903 | 163.78 | 7,763 | Northern Sotho |
| Bochum Part 1 | 90912 | 4.33 | 8,501 | Northern Sotho |
| Bochum Part 2 | 90905 | 182.33 | 15,911 | Northern Sotho |
| Dichoeng | 90906 | 58.29 | 17,347 | Northern Sotho |
| Ga-Manthata | 90907 | 1,335.47 | 72,175 | Northern Sotho |
| Ga-Matlala | 90908 | 180.83 | 8,697 | Northern Sotho |
| Ga-Ramutla | 90910 | 7.81 | 1,047 | Northern Sotho |
| Remainder of the municipality | 90904 | 2,198.72 | 5,539 | Northern Sotho |

## Politics

The municipal council consists of forty-four members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-two councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-two wards, while the remaining twenty-two 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 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of thirty-three seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.
| Party | Party | Ward | Ward | Ward | List | List | List | Total seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Total seats |
| | African National Congress | 26,230 | 71.54 | 22 | 26,887 | 74.42 | 11 | 33 |
| | Economic Freedom Fighters | 5,679 | 15.49 | 0 | 5,878 | 16.27 | 7 | 7 |
| | Congress of the People | 1,220 | 3.33 | 0 | 1,117 | 3.09 | 2 | 2 |
| | Democratic Alliance | 945 | 2.58 | 0 | 956 | 2.65 | 1 | 1 |
| | Independent candidates | 1,457 | 3.97 | 0 | | | | 0 |
| | Abantu Batho Congress | 362 | 0.99 | 0 | 322 | 0.89 | 1 | 1 |
| | 11 other parties | 770 | 2.10 | 0 | 971 | 2.69 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 36,663 | 100.00 | 22 | 36,131 | 100.00 | 22 | 44 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 36,663 | 98.56 | | 36,131 | 97.96 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 537 | 1.44 | | 754 | 2.04 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 37,200 | 100.00 | | 36,885 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 82,935 | 44.85 | | 82,935 | 44.47 | | |