Blouberg Local Municipality

Blouberg Municipality (Northern Sotho: Mmasepala wa Blouberg) is a local municipality within the Capricorn District Municipality, in the Limpopo province of South Africa, bordering Botswana. It takes its name from the Blouberg (literally meaning "blue mountain" in Afrikaans),^[3] a mountain range located to the west of the western end of the Soutpansberg mountain range, north west of the town of Vivo. Blouberg is home to some of the most spectacular rock climbing in South Africa. The rock climbing destination is famous for its big wall natural climbing with route lengths up to 350m. The vegetation ranges from sub-tropical savanna at the base, to alpine near the summit.

Blouberg
Local municipality
Seal
Location in Limpopo
Country	South Africa
Province	Limpopo
District	Capricorn
Seat	Senwabarwana
Wards	22
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Maseka Solomon Pheedi
Area
• Total	9,248 km2 (3,571 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	162,629
• Density	18/km2 (46/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	99.0%
• Coloured	0.0%
• Indian/Asian	0.1%
• White	0.6%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Northern Sotho	93.8%
• Other	6.2%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	LIM351

Demography

According to the 2001 census conducted by Statistics South Africa, the population of the greater Blouberg municipality was 161,314, of whom 99.4% are African, 0.5% white, 0.1% Coloured and 0.1% Asian.

A boy in Blouberg amongst some dwellings

Men playing "pool" (snooker) in a bar in Blouberg, Limpopo.

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:^[4]

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population	Most spoken language
Alldays	90901	11.75	385	Northern Sotho
Bahanawa	90902	390.17	19,068	Northern Sotho
Bahanawa-Ba-Kibi	90903	163.78	7,763	Northern Sotho
Bochum Part 1	90912	4.33	8,501	Northern Sotho
Bochum Part 2	90905	182.33	15,911	Northern Sotho
Dichoeng	90906	58.29	17,347	Northern Sotho
Ga-Manthata	90907	1,335.47	72,175	Northern Sotho
Ga-Matlala	90908	180.83	8,697	Northern Sotho
Ga-Ramutla	90910	7.81	1,047	Northern Sotho
Remainder of the municipality	90904	2,198.72	5,539	Northern Sotho

Politics

Main article: Blouberg Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of forty-four members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-two councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-two wards, while the remaining twenty-two are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of thirty-three seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.^[5]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	26,230	71.54	22	26,887	74.42	11	33
	Economic Freedom Fighters	5,679	15.49	0	5,878	16.27	7	7
	Congress of the People	1,220	3.33	0	1,117	3.09	2	2
	Democratic Alliance	945	2.58	0	956	2.65	1	1
	Independent candidates	1,457	3.97	0				0
	Abantu Batho Congress	362	0.99	0	322	0.89	1	1
	11 other parties	770	2.10	0	971	2.69	0	0
Total		36,663	100.00	22	36,131	100.00	22	44
Valid votes		36,663	98.56		36,131	97.96
Invalid/blank votes		537	1.44		754	2.04
Total votes		37,200	100.00		36,885	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		82,935	44.85		82,935	44.47

References

1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
2. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
3. "Seraki Blouberg Route - South Africa - Open Africa". Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
4. Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa^{[permanent dead link‍]}
5. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Blouberg". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 26 January 2023.

External links

• Blouberg Municipality Website

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