George Local Municipality is a Category B municipality located in the eastern region of the Garden Route District Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.
Overview
| Type of municipality: | Local Municipality (Category B) |
| MIIF classification: | B1 (secondary city) |
| Province: | Western Cape |
| District: | Garden Route |
| Municipal code: | WC044 |
| Seat: | George |
| Number of wards: | 27 |
| Total area: | 5,191 km² (2,004 square miles) |
| Population: | 294,929 (in 2022) |
| Executive mayor: | Jackie von Brandis |
About
George Local Municipality is geographically situated in the eastern part of the Garden Route District Municipality.
The municipality occupies the Garden Route and Little Karoo regions. It includes the coastal plateau around the city of George and extends northeast over the Outeniqua Mountains to include the eastern end of the Little Karoo as far as the Swartberg Mountains and the boundary with the Eastern Cape province.
George Local Municipality covers an area of 5,191 km² (2,004 square miles) making it the second-largest local municipality in the Garden Route District.
The municipality is divided into 27 wards.
The administrative headquarters/seat of George Local Municipality is in George.
George Local Municipality is bordered by:
- Oudtshoorn Local Municipality to the west
- Mossel Bay Local Municipality to the southwest
- The Indian Ocean to the south
- Knysna Local Municipality to the southeast
- Bitou Local Municipality to the southeast
- Kou-Kamma Local Municipality in Sarah Baartman District Municipality of the Eastern Cape to the east
- Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality in Sarah Baartman District Municipality of the Eastern Cape to the north
George Local Municipality enjoys the strategic advantage of being situated on the major national routes between Cape Town in the south and Port Elizabeth in the east. The N2, N9 (R62) and N12, traverse the municipality.
George Regional Airport serves the Southern Cape and Little Karoo, including the neighbouring towns of Knysna, Mossel Bay, Oudtshoorn, and Plettenberg Bay.
Small rural or tourism settlements include Haarlem, Waboomskraal, Uniondale, Touwsranten, Hoekwil – and various hamlets and rural places like Avontuur, De Vlugt, Herold, and Noll. Coastal areas include Herold’s Bay, Victoria Bay, Wilderness, Kleinkrantz, and Gwaing.
The municipality’s natural assets include parts of the Garden Route National Park and the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area.
George Local Municipality also includes fertile farmlands and timber plantations along the coastal plain, fruit orchards in the Langkloof, and arid grazing areas in the Little Karoo.
Population
According to the South African National Census of 2022, George Local Municipality has a population of 294,929 people, compared to 208,237 in 2016, and 193,672 in 2011.
The municipality has a population growth per annum of 4.08%.
According to the 2022 Census, 22.9% of the population is under the age of 15, 68.9% is between 15 and 64, and 8.2% is over 65.
Racial makeup
According to the 2022 Census, 44.4% of the population in George Local Municipality describe themselves as Coloured, 35% as Black African, 18.4% as White, and 0.4% as Indian/Asian.
Languages
According to the 2022 Census, 67.2% of the population speaks Afrikaans as their first language, 21.6% speak isiXhosa, 8.1% speak English, and 3.1% speak other languages.
Economy
The main economic sectors of George Local Municipality are finance, insurance, real estate, business services, wholesale and retail trade, catering, accommodation, manufacturing, transport, storage, communication, general government, community, social and personal services, construction, agriculture, forestry, and fishing.
Municipal council and management
The George municipal council is comprised of 53 members elected by mixed-member proportional representation.
Twenty-seven councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in 27 wards, while the remaining 26 are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.
In the November 2021 local government elections, no party obtained a majority of seats on the council. However, the DA won the largest amount of seats.
The Democratic Alliance then formed a majority coalition government with the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), and Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) to govern George Local Municipality.
| Composition of Council (No. of seats by political party) | – DA: 27 – ANC: 10 – PBI: 5 – FF Plus: 4 – GOOD: 3 – PA: 3 – EFF: 2 – ACDP: 1 |
| Controlling party | DA/FF Plus/ACDP Coalition |
| Executive Mayor | Jackie von Brandis |
| Deputy Executive Mayor | Raybin Figland |
| Speaker | Sean Snyman |
| Chief Whip | Theresa Jeyi |
| Other Council Members | – Brendon Adams (Community Safety) – Marlene Barnardt (MMC Planning and Development [Planning, Building Control, Property, IDP, Performance Management, Economic Development, Agriculture and Tourism]) – Johan du Toit (Corporate Services, Proportional Representative Councillor) – Donovan Gultig (Electro-Technical Services) – Browen Johnson (Civil Engineering Services [Operating Aspects, Capital Projects, and BFI]) – Marchell Kleynhans (Community Services [Parks, Refuse and Environment]) – Marais Kruger (Financial and Strategic Services) – Nosicelo Mbete (Human Resources, Proportional Representative) – Melvin Roelfse (Community Services [Social Development, Sport, Libraries and Customer Care]) – Jean Safers (Human Settlements) |
| Municipal Manager | Godfrey Louw |
| Chief Financial Officer | Riaan du Plessis |
| Senior Management | – Dawie Adonis (Director: Community Services) – Bevan Ellman (Director: Corporate Services) Dr Kosie Haarhoff (Acting Director: Human Settlements, Planning and Development) – Jannie Koegelenberg (Director: Civil Engineering Services) – Jacques Lawrence (Acting Director: Electrotechnical Services) – JP Russouw (Acting Chief Risk Officer) – Joan Shaw (Manager: Tourism Services) – Lauren Waring (Director: Human Settlements, Planning and Development) |
| Communications Officers | – Chantel Edwards (Manager: Communication and IGR) – Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe (Senior Communications and IGR) |
Towns/places
Below are the towns/places in George Local Municipality.
- George
- Haarlem
- Herolds Bay
- Uniondale
- Victoria Bay
- Wilderness
Contact details
The contact details of George Local Municipality are listed in the table below.
| Postal address: | PO Box 19, George, 6530 |
| Physical address: | 71 York Street, George |
| Telephone: | 044 801 9111 |
| Email: | gmun@george.gov.za |
| Website: | www.george.gov.za |
| Fraud hotline: | 086 004 4044 |
| Fire emergencies: | 044 801 6311 |
| Toll-Free disaster number: | 087 152 9999 |
| WhatsApp line: | 067 350 3295 |
