Cape-Westerner

The Cape-Westerner constitutes a province South Africa. The chief town is the Cape. Before 1994, this area belonged to the the Cape Province.

History

The original borders of the Colonie of the Cape of the 18th century correspond generally to those of the current province of the Cape-Westerner. It is then an area of southern Africa where the Européens settled several centuries ago. The language of the majority is the Afrikaans, but a concentration of english-speaking is notably present at the Cape, and the minority Xhosa is also important there.

Policy

The Cape-Westerner and the KwaZulu-Native are the only South-African provinces where the policy is competitive.

The constitution of the province goes back to 1998 and stipulates that the three local official languages are the Afrikaans, the English and the Xhosa. The Parliament of 42 elected officials is located at Wraps-Town.

The opposition dominated the Cape-Westerner between 1994 and 2002 by making a citadel for the national Parti then for the democratic Alliance (DA). In 2002, the Nouveau national Party (NP) breaks alliance with the liberals for a new pact with ANC.

In 2004, with 19 seats, the ANC seizes the province with the assistance of the 5 head offices of NP against 12 elected officials with democratic Alliance, 3 with the independent Démocrates, 2 with the party Christian Democrat and 1 elected official with UDM.

The August 7th 2004, NP announces its fusion with the ANC and its administrative disappearance for September 2005.

With the municipal elections of March 1st 2006, the ANC obtained the relative majority or absolute seats in 13 municipalities out of twenty but finalment was finalment supplanted by the DA at the time of the election of the municipal executives. On the whole of the province, the DA obtained 39,33% of the votes compared with 40,25% with the ANC and 10,68% with the Independent Democrats.

The ANC gained an absolute majority of the seats with Bitou/Plettenberg Bay and Hessequa/Riversdale. At the time of the election of the municipal executives, the independent democrats allowed the formation of exécurif dominated by the ANC Drakeinstein (Paarl).

The DA carried it in the majority absolute in the municipalities of Overstrand (Hermanus) and Swartland (Malmesbury). At the time of the election of the executive councils, it gained the municipalities of the Cape, of George, Mossel Bay, Stellenbosch, Swellendam and Theewaters-kloof (Caledon).

Thanks to their alliance with the DA, the independent Democrats gained the town hall of Oudtshoorn, that of Matzikama (Vredendal) and the direction of the municipal district of Eden (which will be finally taken again by the DA in 2006). Each time, the big winner remained nevertheless the DA which removed the majority of the stations of the municipal executives.

Lastly, in Kannaland, Knysna, Prince Albert, Beaufort West, Laingsburg and in the district of the Karoo Exchange, it is finally an executive made up paritairement of elected officials of the ANC and DA which is set up.

Safety

In 2005, the province of the Cape-Westerner arrives at the head of the statistics for the number of murders for 100.000 inhabitants and the crimes related to drug.

Tourism

The architectural style “Dutch of the Cape”, private individual with the manors of the Cape-Westerner, is one of the treasures of the South-African Architecture.

It is necessary to add big spaces of the Cape of Good Hope, holidays of bay of the Cape and the escarpées slopes of the Montagne of the Table.

Lastly, thanks to the Huguenot S French established in the Cape after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the Cape-Westerner is an important center of the Viticulture, in particular with Paarl and Stellenbosch.

Administrative cutting

The province of the Cape-Westerner is divided into 29 municipalities since 2000 (including five districts and 24 local municipalities):

  • City of the Cape

  • West Coast

    • Matzikama
    • Cederberg
    • Bergrivier
    • Saldanha Bay
    • Swartland

  • Cape Winelands

    • Witzenberg
    • Drakenstein (Paarl)
    • Stellenbosch
    • Breede Valley
    • Breede To rivet/Winelands

  • Helderberg

    • Strand
    • Somerset West
    • Gordon' S Bay

  • Overberg

    • Theewaterskloof (Caledon)
    • Overstrand
    • Cape Agulhas
    • Swellendam

External bond

  • Site of the provincial government of the Cape-Westerner

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