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Cape Winelands District Municipality

Cape Winelands
Kaapse Wynland
Brede River District
District municipality
Official seal of Cape Winelands
Seal
The Cape Winelands District Municipality is located in the Western Cape province, encompassing the area to the north-east of Cape Town.
Location in South Africa
Going clockwise from the southwest corner, the Cape Winelands District municipality is made up of the Stellenbosch, Drakenstein, Breede Valley, and Langeberg Local Municipalities. Along its eastern border is a District Management Area.
Local municipalities within the Cape Winelands
Coordinates: 33°20′S 19°40′E / 33.333°S 19.667°E / -33.333; 19.667Coordinates: 33°20′S 19°40′E / 33.333°S 19.667°E / -33.333; 19.667
Country South Africa
Province Western Cape
Seat Worcester
Local municipalities
Government
 • Type Municipal council
 • Mayor Neels de Bruyn (DA)
Area
 • Total 21,473 km2 (8,291 sq mi)
Population (2011)
 • Total 787,490
 • Density 37/km2 (95/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
 • Black African 23.7%
 • Coloured 62.1%
 • Indian/Asian 0.4%
 • White 12.9%
First languages (2011)
 • Afrikaans 74.8%
 • Xhosa 16.6%
 • English 4.3%
 • Sotho 1.9%
 • Other 2.4%
Time zone SAST (UTC+2)
Municipal code DC2

The Cape Winelands District Municipality, formerly the Boland District Municipality, is a district municipality located in the Boland region of the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 787,490. The largest towns in the municipality are Paarl, Worcester, Stellenbosch and Wellington.

The boundaries of this municipality, which covers an area of 22,289 square kilometres (8,606 sq mi), coincide roughly with the boundaries of the geographical area that has been known since the early days of the Cape Colony as "The Boland". In Afrikaans Boland means "up land" or "the higher land" or "the land above" (i.e. in contrast to the low coastal areas of the original Dutch settlement at the Cape). However, the term "Boland", as originally used, was a loose concept, with no defined borders (cf. the informal but not meaningless terms "The Sahara" or "The Rocky Mountains"). The Boland is generally mountainous, with range after range of beautiful and isolated sandstone peaks reaching towards 2000m but also has broad, fertile valleys that are home to some of the country's finest vineyards.

The region has a Mediterranean climate. Summers are hot and dry and winters cool and damp, with snow on the peaks during August and September. The extent and diversity of the geographical features here are truly marvellous. There are so many peaks, ranges, escarpments, valleys, cliffs, rivers, pools, waterfalls, screes, canyons, springs, forests, caves and other natural features that no person could visit all of them in a lifetime.

The Cape Winelands District Municipality is divided into five local municipalities, which are described in the following table.

The council of the Cape Winelands District Municipality consists of forty councillors, of whom sixteen are directly elected by party-list proportional representation, and twenty-four are appointed by the councils of the constituent local municipalities: eight by Drakenstein, five each by Stellenbosch and Breede Valley, and three each by Witzenberg and Langeberg. As of August 2012 there are twenty-four councillors representing the Democratic Alliance (DA), thirteen representing the African National Congress (ANC), and one each representing the Congress of the People (COPE), the National People's Party (NPP) and the Stellenbosch Civic Association (SCA). The mayor is Neels de Bruyn of the DA, and the Deputy Mayor is HM Jansen, also of the DA.


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