Knysna Municipality (; ) is a local municipality within the Garden Route District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. , the population is 68,659. Its municipal code is WC048.
Geography
The municipality covers an area of between the Indian Ocean and the Outeniqua Mountains around the town of Knysna. It abuts on the George Municipality to the north and west, and on the Bitou Municipality to the east.
According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 68,659 people in 21,893 households. Of this population, 40.9% describe themselves as "Coloured", 36.1% as "Black African", and 21.0% as "White". The first language of 51.2% of the population is Afrikaans, while 28.4% speak Xhosa and 15.4% speak English.
Most of the residents of the municipality live in the town of Knysna, which as of 2011 has a population of 51,078. Knysna is situated on the shores of the Knysna Lagoon; other coastal settlements are Sedgefield (pop. 8,361) and Buffelsbaai (pop. 71). Away from the coast are agricultural settlements at Rheenendal (pop. 3,936) and Karatara (pop. 880).
History
At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the Knysna Municipality formed part of the South Cape Regional Services Council (RSC). The towns of Knysna and Sedgefield were governed by municipal councils elected by their white residents. The coloured residents of Hornlee (Knysna) and Smutsville (Sedgefield) were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. Rheenendal was also governed by a management committee. Kwanonqaba was governed by a town council established under the Black Local Authorities Act, 1982. The coastal resorts of Buffelsbaai, Belvidere Estate, Brenton-on-Sea and Noetzie were governed by local councils.
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, the existing local authorities were dissolved and transitional local councils (TLCs) were created for each town and village. In October 1994 Knysna TLC replaced the Municipality of Knysna and Hornlee Management Committee. In December 1994 Sedgefield TLC replaced the Municipality of Sedgefield, Smutsville Management Committee and Buffelsbaai Local Council. These transitional councils were made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations. In October 1995 the local councils of Belvidere Estate, Brenton-on-Sea and Noetzie, and the Rheenendal Management Committee, were all converted to TLCs without negotiations and with the existing councillors retained in office.
In May 1996 elections were held for all the TLCs. At the time of these elections the South Cape District Council was established in place of the South Cape 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 Knysna Municipality included part of the Outeniqua TRC.
At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Knysna Municipality was established as a single local authority. At the same election the South Cape District Council was dissolved and replaced by the Eden District Municipality. In 2011 the Hoogekraal Plantation area north of Sedgefield was transferred from George Municipality to Knysna Municipality.
Politics
The municipal council consists of twenty-one members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Eleven councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in eleven wards, while the remaining ten 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 on the council. The Democratic Alliance (DA) then formed a minority coalition government with the Knysna Independent Movement (KIM). At the first council meeting on 22 November 2021, the DA's Julie Lopes was elected speaker, followed by the DA's Levael Davis as mayor and Mark Willemse from KIM as deputy mayor with the help of the lone councillor from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.