Drakenstein Municipal Council

The Drakenstein Municipal Council is the elected unicameral legislature of the Drakenstein Local Municipality in Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa.

Drakenstein Municipal Council
5th Council
Type
Houses	Unicameral
Term limits	None
Leadership
Mayor	Alderman Stephen Korabie, DA since 5 April 2024[1]
Deputy Executive Mayor	Alderman Gert Combrink, DA since 16 May 2016
Speaker	Alderman Koos le Roux, DA since 15 November 2021
Chief Whip	Alderman Christephine Kearns, DA since 15 November 2021[2]
Structure
Seats	65 councillors
Political groups	DA (36)   ANC (13)   Good (4)   VF+ (3)   CDR (3)   ACDP, EFF, PA, ICOSA, PAC, Al Jama-ah (1 each)
Elections
Voting system	Mixed-member proportional representation
Last election	1 November 2021
Motto
"A city of excellence"
Meeting place
Burger Centre, Esterville, Paarl, 7646
Website
www.drakenstein.gov.za

The municipal council consists of sixty-five members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Thirty-three councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirty-three wards, while the remaining thirty-two are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.

The Council was established in the year 2000 and is currently governed by the Democratic Alliance.

Political control

The following parties/coalitions have governed the council:

Governing party	Years	Mayor
New National Party/Democratic Alliance	2000–2003	Christian Johannes George Leander (NNP)
New National Party/African National Congress	2003–2006	Herman Bailey (NNP)
African National Congress	2006–2007	Charmaine Manuel (ANC)
Democratic Alliance/Independent Democrats	2007–2007	Koos Louw (DA)
African National Congress	2007–2011	Charmaine Manuel (ANC)
Democratic Alliance	2011–2016	Gesie van Deventer (DA)
Democratic Alliance	2016–2024	Conrad Poole (DA)
Democratic Alliance	2014–present	Stephen Korabie (DA)

Portfolio committees

• MPAC
• Corporate Services
• Financial Services
• Community Services
• Local Labour Forum
• Planning and Economic Development
• Infrastructure Services
• Training and Development
• Appeal
• Budget Steering

History

From 2000 to 2006, the mayor of the municipality was Christian Johannes George Leander of the NNP. It was divided into twenty-nine wards, with a total of fifty-eight councillors.

After the local government elections of 2006, a coalition was formed by the African National Congress (ANC) and the Independent Democrats (ID), and Charmaine Manuel of the ANC was elected as Mayor with Wilhelm Nothnagel of the ID as Deputy Mayor. The municipality was divided into thirty-one wards, with a total of sixty-one councillors.^[3]

In April 2007, the ID broke the coalition, and formed a new coalition with the Democratic Alliance (DA); Koos Louw of the DA was elected Mayor while Nothnagel remained Deputy Mayor.^[4]

During the floor crossing period in September 2007, seven councillors (six from the ID, including Nothnagel, and an independent councillor) defected to the ANC, giving the ANC an outright majority (32 of 61 seats) on the council. Charmaine Manuel returned as Mayor, with Nothnagel continuing as deputy. ^[5]

In the 2011 local government elections the DA managed to turn the tables, and obtained an outright majority on the council, holding 35 seats out of 61. Gesie van Deventer was elected Mayor with Conrad Poole as Deputy Mayor.^[6]

In May 2016, Mayor Van Deventer resigned and Deputy Mayor Poole took office as Mayor. Gert Combrink was elected Deputy Mayor.^[7][8]

In the election of 3 August 2016 the Democratic Alliance (DA) obtained a majority of forty-three seats on the council. Conrad Poole was re-elected as Mayor, while Combrink was also re-elected.

Elections

Results

The following table shows the composition of the council after past elections and floor-crossing periods.

Event	ACDP	ANC	DA	EFF	FF+	ID	NNP	Other	Total
2000 election	3	25	27	—	—	—	—	3	58
2002 floor-crossing	2	27	11	—	—	—	17	1	58
2004 floor-crossing	1	37	13	—	—	3	2	2	58
2006 election	1	26	20	—	1	10	—	3	61
2007 floor-crossing	1	31	20	—	1	3	—	4	61
2011 election	1	19	35	—	0	—	—	6	61
2016 election	1	15	43	2	1	—	—	3	65
2021 election	1	13	36	1	3	—	—	11	65

December 2000 election

Main article: 2000 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2000 election. ^[9]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	23,166	44.66	16	23,970	46.68	11	27
	African National Congress	21,984	42.38	13	22,273	43.38	12	25
	African Christian Democratic Party	2,344	4.52	0	2,272	4.42	3	3
	Alliance for the Community	2,175	4.19	0	1,776	3.46	2	2
	Independent candidates	1,577	3.04	0				0
	United Democratic Movement	517	1.00	0	691	1.35	1	1
	Inkatha Freedom Party	113	0.22	0	364	0.71	0	0
Total		51,876	100.00	29	51,346	100.00	29	58
Valid votes		51,876	98.57		51,346	97.98
Invalid/blank votes		751	1.43		1,060	2.02
Total votes		52,627	100.00		52,406	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		93,206	56.46		93,206	56.23

October 2002 floor crossing

See also: Floor crossing (South Africa)

In terms of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution and the judgment of the Constitutional Court in United Democratic Movement v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, in the period from 8–22 October 2002 councillors had the opportunity to cross the floor to a different political party without losing their seats.

In the Drakenstein council, the Democratic Alliance (DA) lost fifteen councillors to the New National Party (NNP), which had formerly been part of the DA. The DA also lost one councillor to the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), while the ACDP in turn lost two councillors to the African National Congress. The two councillors representing the Alliance for the Community crossed to the NNP.^[10]

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	25	2	27
	New National Party	–	17	17
	Democratic Alliance	27	16	11
	African Christian Democratic Party	3	1	2
	United Democratic Movement	1	0	1
	Alliance for the Community	2	2	0

September 2004 floor crossing

Another floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2004. Ten of the seventeen NNP councillors crossed to the ANC, three crossed to the Independent Democrats (ID), and two crossed to the DA. One councillor crossed from the African Christian Democratic Party to the Federation of Democrats, a new party.^[11]

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	27	10	37
	Democratic Alliance	11	2	13
	Independent Democrats	–	3	3
	New National Party	17	15	2
	African Christian Democratic Party	2	1	1
	United Democratic Movement	1	0	1
	Federation of Democrats	–	1	1

By-elections from September 2004 to February 2006

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing periods in September 2004 and the election in March 2006.^[12]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
11 May 2005	27		African National Congress		African National Congress[Note 1]
12 October 2005	11		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress

March 2006 election

Main article: 2006 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2006 election.^[13]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	21,062	42.41	19	20,779	41.81	7	26
	Democratic Alliance	15,632	31.48	9	16,117	32.43	11	20
	Independent Democrats	7,968	16.04	3	7,976	16.05	7	10
	Western Cape Community	1,163	2.34	0	1,739	3.50	2	2
	African Christian Democratic Party	1,152	2.32	0	1,154	2.32	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	701	1.41	0	750	1.51	1	1
	Independent candidates	1,145	2.31	0				0
	Federation of Democrats	437	0.88	0	331	0.67	1	1
	United Independent Front	215	0.43	0	260	0.52	0	0
	United Democratic Movement	100	0.20	0	374	0.75	0	0
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	88	0.18	0	217	0.44	0	0
Total		49,663	100.00	31	49,697	100.00	30	61
Valid votes		49,663	98.77		49,697	98.78
Invalid/blank votes		617	1.23		613	1.22
Total votes		50,280	100.00		50,310	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		100,552	50.00		100,552	50.03

By-elections from March 2006 to August 2007

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the election in March 2006 and the floor crossing period in September 2007.^[12]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
6 December 2006	23		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
27 June 2007	27		African National Congress		Independent Democrats

September 2007 floor crossing

The final floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2007; floor-crossing was subsequently abolished in 2008 by the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution. In the Drakenstein council, the Independent Democrats lost five councillors to the African National Congress (ANC) and three to the new National People's Party. The single councillor from the Federation of Democrats also crossed to the ANC.^[14]

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	25	6	31
	Democratic Alliance	20	0	20
	Independent Democrats	11	8	3
	National People's Party	—	3	3
	Western Cape Community	2	0	2
	African Christian Democratic Party	1	0	1
	Freedom Front Plus	1	0	1
	Federation of Democrats	1	1	0

By-elections from September 2007 to May 2011

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing period in September 2007 and the election in May 2011. ^[12]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
10 December 2008	7		African National Congress[Note 2]		Independent Democrats
	21		African National Congress		Independent[Note 3]
	26		African National Congress		Democratic Alliance
	28		African National Congress		Democratic Alliance
	30		African National Congress		Independent Democrats

May 2011 election

Main article: 2011 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.^[15]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	41,828	56.17	22	42,707	57.58	13	35
	African National Congress	22,604	30.36	9	23,214	31.30	10	19
	National People's Party	2,833	3.80	0	2,691	3.63	2	2
	Congress of the People	2,304	3.09	0	2,336	3.15	2	2
	Independent candidates	1,743	2.34	0				0
	African Christian Democratic Party	679	0.91	0	801	1.08	1	1
	South African Progressive Civic Organisation	564	0.76	0	502	0.68	1	1
	People's Democratic Movement	551	0.74	0	459	0.62	1	1
	United Christian Democratic Party	329	0.44	0	283	0.38	0	0
	Khoisan Party	262	0.35	0	298	0.40	0	0
	Democratic Christian Party	207	0.28	0	307	0.41	0	0
	Freedom Front Plus	298	0.40	0	214	0.29	0	0
	African Bond of Unity	146	0.20	0	120	0.16	0	0
	Western Cape Community	93	0.12	0	113	0.15	0	0
	National Independent Civic Organisation	22	0.03	0	124	0.17	0	0
Total		74,463	100.00	31	74,169	100.00	30	61
Valid votes		74,463	99.10		74,169	98.81
Invalid/blank votes		674	0.90		893	1.19
Total votes		75,137	100.00		75,062	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		115,089	65.29		115,089	65.22

By-elections from May 2011 to August 2016

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in May 2011 and August 2016.^[12]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
18 September 2013	6		African National Congress		African National Congress
5 November 2014	16		African National Congress		African National Congress[Note 1]
11 November 2015	14		African National Congress		Democratic Alliance

August 2016 election

Main article: 2016 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.^[16][17][18]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	54,491	66.30	26	54,193	65.75	17	43
	African National Congress	17,858	21.73	6	20,975	25.45	9	15
	Economic Freedom Fighters	1,988	2.42	0	1,901	2.31	2	2
	People's Democratic Movement	2,349	2.86	1	291	0.35	0	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	1,180	1.44	0	1,085	1.32	1	1
	Federation of Democrats	685	0.83	0	543	0.66	1	1
	Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa	638	0.78	0	578	0.70	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	593	0.72	0	551	0.67	1	1
	Congress of the People	597	0.73	0	503	0.61	0	0
	Alliance for Democratic Freedom	526	0.64	0	467	0.57	0	0
	South African Progressive Civic Organisation	461	0.56	0	410	0.50	0	0
	Community Party	269	0.33	0	197	0.24	0	0
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	168	0.20	0	227	0.28	0	0
	Khoisan Revolution	189	0.23	0	170	0.21	0	0
	Patriotic Alliance	124	0.15	0	174	0.21	0	0
	Peoples Alliance	31	0.04	0	64	0.08	0	0
	South Africa People's Party	32	0.04	0	44	0.05	0	0
	Civic Independent	11	0.01	0	48	0.06	0	0
	Independent candidates	0	0.00	0				0
Total		82,190	100.00	33	82,421	100.00	32	65
Valid votes		82,190	98.41		82,421	98.73
Invalid/blank votes		1,329	1.59		1,056	1.27
Total votes		83,519	100.00		83,477	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		129,265	64.61		129,265	64.58

By-elections from August 2016 to November 2021

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in August 2016 and November 2021.^[12]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
11 November 2020[Note 4]	3		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance

November 2021 election

Main article: 2021 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.^[19]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	36,387	54.92	26	37,194	55.90	10	36
	African National Congress	12,888	19.45	7	13,143	19.75	6	13
	Good	3,768	5.69	0	3,991	6.00	4	4
	Freedom Front Plus	3,465	5.23	0	3,036	4.56	3	3
	Concerned Drakenstein Residents	2,922	4.41	0	2,717	4.08	3	3
	African Christian Democratic Party	1,362	2.06	0	1,329	2.00	1	1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	1,283	1.94	0	1,294	1.94	1	1
	Patriotic Alliance	807	1.22	0	845	1.27	1	1
	Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa	773	1.17	0	738	1.11	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	585	0.88	0	562	0.84	1	1
	Al Jama-ah	410	0.62	0	379	0.57	1	1
	National Freedom Party	264	0.40	0	282	0.42	0	0
	Cape Independence Party	229	0.35	0	244	0.37	0	0
	Africa Restoration Alliance	250	0.38	0	215	0.32	0	0
	People's Democratic Movement	185	0.28	0	195	0.29	0	0
	Transforming Drakenstein Community Forum	159	0.24	0	159	0.24	0	0
	Independent candidates	207	0.31	0				0
	Cape Coloured Congress	151	0.23	0				0
	Spectrum National Party	42	0.06	0	96	0.14	0	0
	Community Party	63	0.10	0	60	0.09	0	0
	African Covenant	50	0.08	0	61	0.09	0	0
Total		66,250	100.00	33	66,540	100.00	32	65
Valid votes		66,250	99.14		66,540	99.11
Invalid/blank votes		573	0.86		598	0.89
Total votes		66,823	100.00		67,138	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		131,182	50.94		131,182	51.18

By-elections from November 2021

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period from November 2021. ^[20]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
23 November 2022[21]	17		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance

Notes

1. Elected uncontested as no other candidates were nominated.
2. The former councillor was elected for the Independent Democrats but had since crossed the floor to the African National Congress.
3. The former councillor was re-elected to the ward as an independent.
4. By-election was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. Adams, Rasaad. "DA se Stephen Korabie as nuwe Drakenstein-munisipaliteit-burgemeester verkies". Netwerk24 (in Afrikaans). Retrieved 2024-04-11.
2. "New office bearers in the council". Netwerk24 (in Afrikaans). Retrieved 2021-12-10.
3. drakenstein municipality - IIS Windows Server. Retrieved on 3 August 2019.
4. Pretorius, Maahir (22 April 2007). "Drama at Wellington council". News24. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
5. "ANC gets Drakenstein and Knysna". News24. Cape Town. 3 September 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
6. DA leadership gets reshuffle in province, IOL, 12 May 2014. Retrieved on 3 August 2019.
7. Mayor Gesie van Deventer resigns, Paarl Post, 13 May 2016. Retrieved on 3 August 2019.
8. New mayor for Drakenstein. Retrieved on 3 August 2019.
9. "Local Government Elections 2000 - Seat Calculation Detail: Drakenstein" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
10. "2002 Detailed Floor Crossing Report" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
11. "2004 Floor Crossing - Summary report" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
12. "Municipal By-elections results". Electoral Commission of South Africa. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
13. "Local Government Elections 2006 - Seat Calculation Detail: Drakenstein" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
14. "2007 Floor Crossing - Summary report" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
15. "Local Government Elections 2011 - Seat Calculation Detail: Drakenstein" (PDF). Independent Electoral Commission. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
16. "Results Summary – All Ballots: Drakenstein" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
17. "Seat Calculation Detail: Drakenstein" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
18. "Voter Turnout Report: Drakenstein" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
19. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Drakenstein". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
20. "Municipal By-elections results - Electoral Commission of South Africa".
21. Sussman, Wayne (2022-11-24). "NOVEMBER BY-ELECTIONS: DA cut down to size by FF+ in Paarl while ANC takes a knock in Nyanga and rural Mpumalanga". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2022-11-24.

External links

• Drakenstein Municipality inaugurates DA-led council
• Drakenstein Local Municipality