Politics
The council of the Eden District Municipality consists of thirty-five councillors, of whom fifteen are directly elected by party-list proportional representation, and twenty are appointed by the councils of the constituent local municipalities: six by George, four by Mossel Bay, three by Oudtshoorn, two each by Hessequa, Bitou and Knysna, and one by Kannaland. As of August 2012 there are seventeen councillors from the Democratic Alliance (DA) representatives, thirteen from the African National Congress (ANC), two each from the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (ICOSA) and one from the Congress of the People (COPE). The mayor is Vernatt van der Westhuizen and the deputy mayor is Lionel Esau; both are members of the DA.
The following table shows the detailed composition of the council.
| DA | ANC | ICOSA | ACDP | COPE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Directly elected | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Appointed by Kannaland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Appointed by Hessequa | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Appointed by Mossel Bay | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Appointed by George | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Appointed by Oudtshoorn | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Appointed by Bitou | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Appointed by Knysna | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 17 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
The following table shows the results of the election of the fifteen directly-elected councillors on 18 May 2011.
| Party | Votes | Vote % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Alliance | 95,340 | 50.7 | 8 | |
| African National Congress | 75,353 | 40.1 | 6 | |
| Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa | 6,094 | 3.2 | 1 | |
| Congress of the People | 4,989 | 2.7 | 0 | |
| African Christian Democratic Party | 2,818 | 1.5 | 0 | |
| Civic Independent | 1,217 | 0.6 | 0 | |
| National People's Party | 885 | 0.5 | 0 | |
| South African Progressive Civic Organisation | 494 | 0.3 | 0 | |
| Universal Civics of South Africa | 471 | 0.3 | 0 | |
| Cape Party | 354 | 0.2 | 0 | |
| Total | 188,015 | 100.00 | 15 | |
| Spoilt votes | 2,914 | |||
Read more about this topic: Eden District Municipality
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“Finance is a gun. Politics is knowing when to pull the trigger.”
—Mario Puzo, U.S. author, screenwriter, and Francis Ford Coppola, U.S. director, screenwriter. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino)
“Our family talked a lot at table, and only two subjects were taboo: politics and personal troubles. The first was sternly avoided because Father ran a nonpartisan daily in a small town, with some success, and did not wish to express his own opinions in public, even when in private.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)
“Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the mud stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique, violin player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)