97-528: Constantiaberg is a large, whale-backed mountain that forms part of the mountainous spine of the Cape Peninsula in Table Mountain National Park , Cape Town , South Africa . It lies about 7 km south of Table Mountain , on the southern side of Constantia Nek . The mountain is 927 m high. It is not known who first ascended the peak. Constantiaberg, Devil's Peak and Table Mountain are
194-479: A Mediterranean climate type, with warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. The winter rain is a consequence of frontal depressions developed from the circumpolar westerlies, which occur at least once per week in normal mid-winter from June to August. The summer climate is controlled by the South Atlantic High, which produces south-easterly winds, which blow offshore over the west coast. Much of the roughly 25% of
291-670: A chick each in any given year. With the commencement of formal monitoring in 1993, two breeding pairs were recorded on the Cape Peninsula Mountain Chain in 2004: one below the upper cable station at the western end of Table Mountain, in Blinkwater Ravine, the other on the cliffs below Noordhoek Peak. The nest near the cable station was abandoned in 2006, leaving only the Noordhoek pair, which continued to fledge chicks reasonably regularly till 2013, at which point one member of
388-507: A complete overhaul. The existing local authorities, political parties, ratepayers' organisations, and community organisations were brought together into a negotiating forum. This forum agreed on the creation of a two-level local government system consisting of multiple transitional metropolitan substructures (TMSs), brought together in a transitional metropolitan council named the Cape Metropolitan Council (CMC). The CMC would replace
485-587: A firm council majority, several of the smaller coalition partners were dropped from the city government by the time of the 2009 general elections, including the ACDP and FF+. The DA's Ian Neilson became deputy mayor, while Dirk Smit, who had defected to the DA, retained the position of speaker. Helen Zille left the mayorship the same year to take up the position of premier of the Western Cape, and Dan Plato became mayor. In 2010,
582-595: A major gap at the Fish Hoek–Noordhoek valley. In the south much of the area is a low sandstone plateau with sand dunes. Maximum altitude is 1113 m on Table Mountain. Mountains and peaks: Passes ( cols ): Valleys and gorges: If using the river drainage to define the extent of the peninsula, the coastline extends from the mouth of the Salt River in Table Bay to the mouth of Sandvlei at Muizenberg. Landmarks of
679-636: A management committee was established for the area where they lived. In 1982 the Black Local Authorities Act created elected town councils for black communities. Five such councils were established in the Cape metropolitan areas. They were generally regarded as under-resourced and unsustainable, and were opposed by the United Democratic Front and other civic organisations. Turnout in BLA elections
776-543: A marine protected area in 2004, include several no-take zones, and are part of the national park. The waters of this marine protected area are unusual in that they are parts of two fairly distinct coastal marine ecoregions , namely the Agulhas ecoregion and the Benguela ecoregion . The boundary is at Cape Point. The Cape Peninsula has an unusually rich biodiversity. Its vegetation consists predominantly of several different types of
873-472: A result of a too rapid sequence of fires. The fires that occur on the mountains today are still largely due to unregulated human activity. Fire frequency is therefore a matter of chance rather than conservation. Despite intensive conservation efforts the Table Mountain range has the highest concentration of threatened species of any continental area of equivalent size in the world. The non-urban areas of
970-572: A result of the prevailing wind and Coriolis forces . The Benguela Current, therefore, effectively starts at Cape Point, and flows northwards from there, although further out to sea it is joined by surface water that has crossed the South Atlantic from South America as part of the South Atlantic Gyre . Thus the Benguela and Agulhas currents do not strictly "meet" anywhere, although eddies from
1067-508: A variety of habitats, mostly in moist, relatively fertile soils that are protected from fire. Species diversity is relatively low. Fynbos: Other: The most common mammal on the mountain was the dassie (the South African name, from Afrikaans , pronounced "dussy"), or rock hyrax . Between about 2000 and 2004 (no one is certain about the exact year or years) their numbers suddenly plummeted for unknown reasons. They used to cluster around
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#17328454465241164-712: A wide range of habitats and ecological communities. The peninsula lies within the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa. It is the home of some 2285 plant species and is a global hot-spot of diversity for plants and invertebrates. Vegetation is dominated by about 12 types of fire-prone fynbos shrubland. Invertebeate community structure is poorly understood, and vertebrate communities are thought to be strongly influenced by recurring fire and nutrient limitations, so most vertebrates are small and population densities are low. Table Mountain National Park , previously known as
1261-453: Is 52 km long from Mouille point in the north to Cape Point in the south, with an area of about 470 km , and it displays more topographical variety than other similar sized areas in southern Africa, and consequently spectacular scenery. There are diverse low-nutrient soils, large rocky outcrops, scree slopes, a mainly rocky coastline with embayed beaches, and considerable local variation in climatic conditions. The sedimentary rocks of
1358-399: Is a fire-prone sclerophyllous shrubland with a high cover of restiods. Renosterveld is also a fire-prone scrubland, but with restioids replaced by grasses, without proteoid shrubs, and with the shrub component dominated by ericoid shrubs. The third formation is Forest and thicket, which is characterised by broad-leafed, Afromontane evergreen trees and shrubs, and is not fire-prone. It grows in
1455-590: Is a well known region of metamorphic rocks formed by the granite intrusion into the Malmesbury rocks. These rocks were later unconformably covered by the Cape Supergroup , which is divided into eight formations, the three oldest of which are present on the Peninsula. The lowest present is the reddish Graafwater formation which consist of shales and sandstone . The Graafwater Formation can be clearly seen in
1552-545: Is bounded to the north by Table Bay , to the west by the open Atlantic Ocean , and to the east by False Bay in the south and the Cape Flats in the north. The peninsula is mostly the mountainous remnant of very old durable sandstone formations with low dip, deposited unconformably on an ancient underlying granite peneplain. The climate is of the Mediterranean type, with predominantly winter rainfall and mild temperatures, and
1649-461: Is chaired by one of the councillors and appoints a manager to run its day-to-day business. A subcouncil does not have any inherent responsibilities in law, but it is entitled to make recommendations to the City Council about anything that affects its area. The City Council may also delegate responsibilities to the subcouncils. The executive authority for the city is vested in an Executive Mayor who
1746-522: Is elected by the council. The mayor appoints a mayoral committee whose members oversee various portfolios. A City Manager is appointed as the non-political head of the city's administration. With the Democratic Alliance (DA) having won an absolute majority of council seats in the election of 1 November 2021 , its mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis , who had been a Member of Parliament since 2011,
1843-407: Is governed by a 231-member city council elected in a system of mixed-member proportional representation . The city is divided into 116 wards , each of which elects a councillor by first-past-the-post voting . The remaining 115 councillors are elected from party lists so that the total number of councillors for each party is proportional to the number of votes received by that party. The makeup of
1940-519: Is in the "Aqueduct" off the Smuts Track, halfway between Skeleton Gorge and Maclear's Beacon . Remnant patches of indigenous forest persist in the wetter ravines. However, much of the indigenous forest was felled by the early European settlers for fuel for the lime kilns needed during the construction of the Castle . The exact extent of the original forests is unknown, though most of it was probably along
2037-528: Is so named because the eastern profile of the mountain resembles an elephant (the range that continues toward Cape Point being the trunk). Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula ( Afrikaans : Kaapse Skiereiland ) is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and
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#17328454465242134-417: Is substantial at higher elevations. Snowfall is unusual, restricted to Table Mountain, and melts within a day or two. Variations in temperature are not great due to the moderating effect of the adjacent sea, the narrow land mass, and fairly low maximum altitudes of the mountains. Annual mean temperature at sea level in the north facing areas of the north peninsula are around 22 °C. and about 16 °C on
2231-421: Is visible for perhaps 80 kilometers in any direction. It was constructed in the 1960s and is used to transmit signals for many local television and radio channels, and also to support cellular networks. The South African Weather Service has a radar installation at the summit. Constantiaberg is home to a variety of bird and plant species. The mountain is covered mainly by fynbos , a botanical biome native to
2328-548: The Cape Floral Region protected areas. These protected areas are a World Heritage Site , and an estimated 2,200 species of plants are confined to Table Mountain range - which are at least as many as occur in the whole of the United Kingdom. Many of these species, including a great many types of proteas , are endemic to these mountains and can be found nowhere else. The Disa uniflora , despite its restricted range within
2425-638: The Cape Supergroup , of which parts of the Graafwater and Peninsula Formations remain, were uplifted between 280 and 21S million years ago, and were largely eroded away during the Mesozoic. The region was geologically stable during the Tertiary, which has led to slow denudation of the durable sandstones. Erosion rate and drainage has been influenced by fault lines and fractures, leaving remnant steep-sided massifs like Table Mountain surrounded by flatter slopes of deposits of
2522-519: The Cape of Good Hope . On the northern end is Table Mountain , overlooking Table Bay and the City Bowl of Cape Town , South Africa . The peninsula is 52 km long from Mouille point in the north to Cape Point in the south. The Peninsula has been an island on and off for the past 5 million years, as sea levels fell and rose with the ice age and interglacial global warming cycles of, particularly,
2619-669: The Democratic Party (DP). Fearing further losses, the NNP agreed to contest the upcoming local election in December 2000 together with the DP by forming the Democratic Alliance (DA), with DP and NNP members running as DA candidates. The DA won Cape Town with an outright majority, and Peter Marais , also a senior member of the provincial NNP, became mayor of the unicity. However, DA leader Tony Leon 's attempt to remove Marais from his position in 2001 caused
2716-592: The Pleistocene . The last time that the Peninsula was an island was about 1.5 million years ago. Soon afterwards it was joined to the mainland by the emergence from the sea of the sandy area now known as the Cape Flats . The towns and villages of the Cape Peninsula and Cape Flats, and the undeveloped land of the rest of the peninsula now form part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality . The Cape Peninsula
2813-515: The South Atlantic , South Indian and Southern Ocean currents, known collectively as the " West Wind Drift ", which flow eastwards round Antarctica. The Benguela Current, on the other hand, is an upwelling current which brings cold, mineral-rich water from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean to the surface along the west coast of southern Africa. Having reached the surface it flows northwards as
2910-613: The Western Cape , is relatively common in the perennially wet areas (waterfalls, streamlets and seeps) on Table Mountain and the Back Table, but hardly anywhere else on the Cape Peninsula. It is a very showy orchid that blooms from January to March on the Table Mountain Sandstone regions of the mountain . Although they are quite widespread on the Back Table, the best (most certain, and close-up) place to view these beautiful blooms
3007-420: The Western Cape . The specific vegetation type of the mountain is Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos , an endangered vegetation type that is endemic to the city of Cape Town - occurring nowhere else in the world. Elephant's Eye cave, a popular hiking destination, is the mountain's biggest feature after the mast. This is visible near the southern end of the mountain when viewed from the Cape Flats . Elephant's Eye
Constantiaberg - Misplaced Pages Continue
3104-440: The rock kestrel . In 2014 three pairs of African fish eagles were believed to be breeding on the Peninsula, but they nest in trees generally as far away from human habitation as is possible on the Peninsula. Their number in 2017 is unknown. Up until the late 1990s baboons occurred on all the mountains of the Peninsula, including the Back Table immediately behind Table Mountain. Since then they have abandoned Table Mountain and
3201-526: The rooikat ( caracal ) and the vaalboskat (also called the vaalkat or Southern African wildcat ) were once common in the mountains and the mountain slopes. The rooikat continues to be seen on rare occasions by mountaineers but the status of the vaalboskat is uncertain. The mountain cliffs are home to several raptors species, apart from the Verreaux's eagle. They include the jackal buzzard , booted eagle (in summer), African harrier-hawk , peregrine falcon and
3298-403: The "Unicity". At the time of the 2000 election the northern boundary of the metropolitan area was also extended to include Philadelphia , Klipheuwel , and the surrounding farmland. The current municipality covers Cape Point in the south-west, Gordon's Bay in the south-east, and Atlantis in the north, and includes Robben Island . The remote Prince Edward Islands are deemed to be part of
3395-484: The 1960s they could be found as far afield as Signal Hill. These animals may still be seen occasionally despite efforts to eliminate or relocate them. City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town ( Afrikaans : Stad Kaapstad ; Xhosa : IsiXeko saseKapa ) is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As of 2022 it has a population of 4,772,846. Cape Town first received local self-government in 1839, with
3492-411: The 20th century. Durbanville achieved municipal status in 1901, Goodwood in 1938, Parow in 1939, Bellville and Fish Hoek in 1940, Pinelands in 1948, Kuils River in 1950, Milnerton in 1955, Kraaifontein in 1957, Gordon's Bay in 1961, Brackenfell in 1970. In 1979 Bellville was upgraded to city status. The areas not included in a municipality were governed by divisional councils. Most of
3589-673: The ACDP was elected executive deputy mayor and Jacob "Dirk" Smit of the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) was elected speaker. The initially fragile position of this new DA-led coalition, also known as the Multi-Party Government, was improved in January 2007 with the introduction of the ID following the expulsion of the small Africa Muslim Party for conspiring with the ANC. As a result of the ID's support,
3686-573: The Agulhas current do from time to time round the Cape to join the Benguela Current. Tidal range is moderate, with about 1.8 to 1.9 m range at spring tide on both sides of the peninsula, and tidal currents are negligible. The Bathymetry of False Bay differs in character from the west side of the Cape Peninsula. The west coast seabed tends to slope down more steeply than in False Bay, and although
3783-527: The Back Table, and only occur on the Constantiaberg, and the mountains to the south. They have also abandoned the tops of many of the mountains, in favour of the lower slopes, particularly when these were covered in pine plantations which seemed to provide them with more, or higher quality food than the fynbos on the mountain tops. However these new haunts are also within easy reach of Cape Town's suburbs, which brings them into conflict with humans and dogs, and
3880-499: The Cape Flats and 30kph at Cape Point. In summer the southeasterly and southwesterly winds may blow at gale force for over a week uninterrupted, but there are locally sheltered areas where the wind is much lighter which vary depending on wind direction. The peninsula is highly topographically varied, and has a wide range of annual rainfall variation over a small area, and a large diversity of nutrient poor soils, and consequently supports
3977-403: The Cape Peninsula (mainly on the mountains and mountain slopes) have suffered particularly under a massive onslaught of invasive alien plants for well over a century, with perhaps the worst invader being the cluster pine , partly because it was planted in extensive commercial plantations along the eastern slopes of the mountains, north of Muizenberg. Considerable efforts have been made to control
Constantiaberg - Misplaced Pages Continue
4074-533: The Cape Peninsula National Park, was proclaimed on 29 May 1998, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment of the Table Mountain Chain, and in particular the rare fynbos vegetation. The park comprises a large part of the undeveloped area of the Cape Peninsula, and is managed by South African National Parks Board . The coastal waters surrounding the Cape Peninsula were proclaimed as
4171-540: The Cape metropolitan area fell under the Divisional Council of the Cape, while the eastern parts around Brackenfell, Kuils River and the Helderberg area formed part of the Divisional Council of Stellenbosch, and an area in the northeast around Kraaifontein formed part of the Divisional Council of Paarl. In earlier years the right to vote in local elections was not restricted by race (see Cape Qualified Franchise ), but
4268-828: The City of Cape Town, specifically of ward 115. The Hon Alan Winde MMP The Seventh Provincial Parliament Speaker Daylin Mitchell MMP Deputy Speaker Reagan Allen MMP Chief Whip of the Majority Party Gillon Bosman MMP Leader of the Opposition Khalid Sayed MMP Chief Whip of the Official Opposition Ayanda Bans MMP Municipal: Cape Town
4365-450: The Constantiaberg to the front of Devil's Peak, and even on top of the mountains, but these have now been largely cleared allowing fynbos to flourish in the regions where the indigenous Afromontane forests have not survived, or never existed. Fynbos is a fire adapted vegetation, and evidence suggests that in the absence of regular fires all but the drier fynbos would become dominated by trees. Regular fires have dominated fynbos for at least
4462-458: The DA and ID formalized an agreement in which the ID would merge into the DA by 2014. This was prompted in part by the ID's disappointing result in the 2009 general election. As per the agreement, ID ceased to exist at the local level after the 2011 municipal elections with ID members running as DA candidates. DA won a large outright majority in the election, and ID leader Patricia de Lille, who had defeated Plato in an earlier internal election, became
4559-415: The False Bay coastline: The characteristics of the rivers and wetlands of a region are a complex emergent product of the influences of geology, hydrology, ecology, and more recently, technology, over the long-term history of both the region and its surroundings. The rivers of the Cape Peninsula are generally steep and narrow following the current topography of the region. The current geomorphology determines
4656-465: The Graafwater formation rests is visible. And in the cutting at the first hairpin bend, the ocher-colored, gritty clay into which the granite weathers is clearly displayed. The relatively thin Graafwater layer (no more than about 60–70 m thick on the Cape Peninsula) is overlain by the prominent Peninsula Formation , which consists mainly of hard, erosion resistant, quartzitic sandstones, which form
4753-405: The NNP prepared for dissolution and merger with the ANC, and most of its councillors joined the governing party. This gave the ANC an outright majority on the council, which lasted until the next election. In the 2006 local government election , the DA was the largest single party, ahead of the ANC, but with no party holding a majority. The new Independent Democrats (ID) led by Patricia de Lille
4850-500: The Regional Services Council and take over its responsibilities; it would also be responsible for metro-level planning and co-ordination, improving service delivery in disadvantaged areas, and cross-subsidization of poorer areas with revenue from affluent areas. Initially, in a period called the "pre-interim phase", the existing local authorities would become TMSs but their councils would be replaced by councillors nominated by
4947-413: The close inshore waters are also shallow, the 100 m contour is mostly within about 10 km of the west coast, while the entire False Bay is shallower than about 80 m. The bottom of False Bay slopes down relatively gradually from the gently sloping beaches of the north shore to the mouth, and is fairly even in depth from east to west except close to the shorelines. Much of the Western Cape has
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#17328454465245044-410: The coalition significantly increased its majority, resulting in a much more stable city government. The ID's Charlotte Williams became executive deputy mayor. However, she resigned just a few months later, and the post then went to Grant Haskin of the ACDP in late 2007. The DA would also bolster its position through by-election victories and floor crossing defections. With the ID and DA together holding
5141-474: The council after the 2021 election is shown in the following table. The speaker of the council is Felicity Purchase of the Democratic Alliance. The council is divided into 24 subcouncils which deal with local functions for between three and six wards. A subcouncil consists of the ward councillors and a similar number of proportionally-elected councillors assigned to the subcouncil. A subcouncil
5238-578: The cutting on the second hairpin bend as the Ou Kaapse Weg (road) goes up the slope from Westlake on to the Silvermine plateau. In the cutting one can also see the abrupt and obvious transition into the Table Mountain Sandstone (or, as it is currently known, the Peninsula Formation Sandstone ) above it. Looking up the slope from below to the first hairpin bend, the granite basement on which
5335-467: The disintegration of the alliance, and NNP came to ally with the ANC. Marais was replaced as mayor by Gerald Morkel , but Morkel was himself soon ousted during the October 2002 local floor crossing period after a large number of DA councillors had defected to the NNP. Nomaindia Mfeketo of the ANC became mayor supported by an ANC-NNP coalition. In 2004, after a dismal showing in the general elections that year,
5432-617: The east side of the mountains north of Muizenberg and south of the Liesbeek catcment into False Bay: The Liesbeek Valley on the north-eastern side of Table Mountain drains the northeastern side of the mountains into table Bay: The Cape Peninsula is underlain by the oldest rocks in the area, the Malmesbury Group , and the granite intrusions of the Peninsula pluton . The Malmesbury Group has been dated from between 830 and 980 Mya, and
5529-455: The eastern slopes of Devil's Peak , Table Mountain and the Back Table where names such as Rondebosch, Kirstenbosch, Klaassenbosch and Witteboomen survive (in Dutch "bosch" means forest; and "boomen" means trees) . Hout Bay (in Dutch "hout" means wood) was another source of timber and fuel as the name suggests. In the early 1900s commercial pine plantations were planted on these slopes all the way from
5626-578: The equatorial region along the east coast of Africa. In fact the south flowing Agulhas Current swings away from the African coastline between about East London and Port Elizabeth , following the edge of the Continental shelf roughly as far as the southern tip of the Agulhas Bank , 250 km (155 miles) south of Cape Agulhas. From there it is retroflexed (turned sharply round) in an easterly direction by
5723-495: The eroded material overlaying the older rocks, There are two internationally notable landmarks, Table Mountain and Cape Point , at opposite ends of the Peninsula Mountain Chain, with the Cape Flats and False Bay to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The landscape is dominated by sandstone plateaux and ridges, which generally drop steeply at their margins to the surrounding debris slopes, interrupted by
5820-420: The final form of local government in post-apartheid South Africa. This legislation determined that metropolitan areas would be governed by unified metropolitan municipalities . Local elections were held on 5 December 2000 ; the Cape Metropolitan Council and the six interim TMSs were dissolved and replaced by the unified City of Cape Town. It is for this reason that the City of Cape Town is sometimes referred to as
5917-499: The first major unification took place when the municipalities of Cape Town, Green Point and Sea Point , Woodstock , Mowbray , Rondebosch , Claremont , Maitland , and Kalk Bay were unified to create the first City of Cape Town. In 1927 the municipality of Wynberg was also merged with Cape Town, with the result that all of the Southern Suburbs were incorporated into the City. Many new municipalities were established during
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#17328454465246014-535: The form and structure of catchments, and these in turn are determined by the past drainage patterns and geology of the surface at the time, the changes in climate and sea level, and the variations in altitude and slope caused by tectonic movement over the longer time-frame. The courses of most of the rivers of the peninsula are controlled by the structural characteristics of the Table Mountain Group rocks. The major lineaments lie mostly northwest to southeast in
6111-659: The high, prominent, almost vertical cliffs of the Cape Peninsula. At the very top of Table Mountain , at Maclear's Beacon, is a small remnant of the Pakhuis Diamictites , better represented in the Cederberg Mountains , 200 km to the north of Cape Town. The soils of the Cape Peninsula are similar to those of other parts of the Cape Fold Belt, being derived from similar rock, and are mainly sandy and poor in nutrients. The poorest soils are those associated with
6208-517: The highest mountains in the range that stretches from Table Mountain all the way to Cape Point . The range, made up of resistant sandstones of the Table Mountain Group , dominates the southern suburbs of the city on the verge of the Cape Flats . The lower eastern slopes of Constantiaberg are covered by the commercial pine and gum plantations of Tokai forest, and are crisscrossed with hiking trails and gravel roads that are used for harvesting
6305-548: The larger Protea species, a rare local colony of which, the Aulax umbellata (Family: Proteaceae ), was wiped out on the Peninsula by more frequent fires, as have been the silky-haired pincushion, Leucospermum vestitum , the red sugarbush, Protea grandiceps and Burchell's sugarbush, Protea burchellii , although a stand of a dozen or so plants has recently been "rediscovered" in the saddle between Table Mountain and Devil's Peak . Some bulbs may similarly have become extinct as
6402-546: The less accessible upper parts of the mountain. As an exotic species, they were almost eradicated through a culling programme initiated by the South African National Parks to make way for the reintroduction of indigenous klipspringers . Until recently there were also small numbers of fallow deer of European origin and sambar deer from southeast Asia. These were mainly in the Rhodes Memorial area but during
6499-672: The members of the negotiating forum. This agreement came into effect, and the pre-interim phase began, on 1 February 1995. The second phase of the transformation, known as the "interim phase" began on 29 May 1996 when local elections were held . The pre-interim TMSs were dissolved, and six new TMSs were established covering the whole metropolitan area: City of Cape Town (Central), City of Tygerberg, South Peninsula Municipality, Blaauwberg Municipality, Oostenberg Municipality, and Helderberg Municipality. The Cape Metropolitan Council continued with its coordinating functions. In 1998 Parliament enacted legislation (the Municipal Structures Act) determining
6596-451: The mountain top. Elsewhere, averages range between 18 and 20 °C. The range of mean maximum to mean minimum temperatures at any give place is small, ranging from 10 °C on table Mountain to 6 °C at Cape Point. Frost is unusual and not severe, even on the mountains, and is unknown at the coastline. Winds over the peninsula can be strong. In winter, the northwesterly wind often exceeds gale force, with mean wind speeds of 20kph over
6693-417: The natural vegetation is exceptionally diverse, with an unusually large number of endemic plant species for an area of this size, many of which are endangered, and threatened by human activity and encroachment, but are to some extent protected on the large part of the peninsula which is in the Table Mountain National Park . The coastal waters include a major seaport in Table Bay, and a marine protected area in
6790-434: The new mayor. The party extended its lead even further to win a two-thirds majority of the seats on the City of Cape Town council in the 2016 municipal elections, and De Lille was thus sworn in to serve a second term. It was however cut short following her resignation on 31 October 2018 after an extended battle with her party over accusations of covering up corruption, accusations she strongly denied. The previous mayor Dan Plato
6887-418: The pair disappeared. From 2013 till January 2017 only a single Verreaux's Eagle, presumed to be a female, remained on the Peninsula. She continued to maintain the nest under Noordhoek Peak, but seemed unable to attract a mate. But in early 2017 a pair of eagles was seen by at least 7 independent observers during the course of 10 days (27 January - 5 February). It remains to be seen whether they will breed later in
6984-402: The past 12 000 years largely as a result of human activity. In 1495 Vasco da Gama named the South African coastline Terra de Fume because of the smoke he saw from numerous fires. This was originally probably to maintain a productive stock of edible bulbs (especially watsonians ) and to facilitate hunting, and later, after the arrival of pastoralists , to provide fresh grazing after
7081-499: The peninsula's rain that falls during the summer months of October to March is associated with post-frontal conditions. There is a large variation in rainfall over the peninsula. Maclear's beacon at the top of Table mountain in the north has an average of 2270 mm per year, while Cape Point gets about 402 mm per year. 1 Rainfall variations are affected by altitude and aspect, and by topographical features that direct and trap rain-bearing wind. Rain from southeasterly wind clouds
7178-578: The policies of the apartheid government aimed for complete segregation of local government. A 1962 amendment to the Group Areas Act introduced management committees for the areas designated for coloured and Indian residents. These management committees were subordinate to the existing local authority—either a municipality or the divisional council. From 1972 no new non-white voters could be registered as voters for municipal or divisional councils, and existing non-white voters lost their voting rights when
7275-544: The promulgation of a municipal ordinance by the government of the Cape Colony . When it was created, the Cape Town municipality governed only the central part of the city known as the City Bowl , and as the city expanded, new suburbs became new municipalities, until by 1902 there were 10 separate municipalities in the Cape Peninsula . During the 20th century, many of the inner suburban municipalities became unsustainable; in 1913
7372-409: The rains. Thus the plants that make up fynbos today are those that have been subjected to a variety of fire regimes over a very long period, and their preservation now requires regular burning. The frequency of the fires obviously determines precisely which mix of plants will dominate any particular region, but intervals of 10–15 years between fires are considered to promote the proliferation of
7469-925: The rapid spread of these invasive alien trees. Other invasive plants include black wattle , blackwood, Port Jackson and rooikrans (All Australian members of the acacia family), as well as several Hakea species and bramble . The flora is typical of the southwestern Cape Floristic Region. The five largest families are Asteraceae (286 spp. of which 47 are in Senecio ), Iridaceae (168 spp.), Fabaceae (162 spp. of which 55 are in Aspalathus ), Poaceae (141 spp.), and Ericaceae (112 spp. of which 103 are in Erica ). There are also 38 spp. in Oxalis ( Oxalidaceae ), and 37 spp. in Ficinia ( Cyperaceae ). The flora includes species typical of
7566-456: The restaurant at the upper cable station, near areas where tourists discarded or (inadvisably supplied) food. The population crash of the dassies was in all probability responsible for the decline in the Verreaux's eagle population on the Peninsula, which is believed to have consisted of 3 breeding pairs during the period 1950 to 1990, with only 2 pairs, maximally, ever having been reported to fledge
7663-490: The risk of traffic accidents. In 2014 there were a dozen troops on the Peninsula, varying in size from 7 to over 100 individuals, scattered on the mountains from the Constantiaberg to Cape Point. The baboon troops are the subject of intense research into their movements (both of individuals and of the troops), their physiology, genetics, social interactions and habits. In addition, their sleeping sites are noted each evening, so that monitors armed with paint ball guns can stay with
7760-510: The rural areas of the RSC that were not included in any local authority. Also in 1987, an act of the House of Assembly allowed the creation of local councils for white communities in peri-urban areas. Thus at the end of apartheid in 1994, there were over 50 different local authorities in existence in the metropolitan area, listed below. As part of the post-1994 reforms, municipal government experienced
7857-608: The sandstone plateaux and upper slopes, which are grey, acidic, leached and generally shallow. They are mostly well drained, but there are areas of poor drainage on the relatively level plateaux and high ground which get winter rains and south-Easter cloud precipitation in summer, which are very acidic and have a high content of organic matter. The deeper soils of the colluvial slopes which are underlain by shale or granite tend to be heavier, orange to red, less acid and richer in nutrients. Soils associated with older Quaternary deposits tend to be fairly deep, moderately acid and more fertile than
7954-555: The soils derived from the sandstones. Younger sands along the coastline are alkaline and poorly consolidated. The Cape of Good Hope is sometimes erroneously identified as the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans . However, according to the International Hydrographic Organization agreement that defines the ocean boundaries, the meeting point is at Cape Agulhas , about 200 kilometres (120 mi) to
8051-436: The southeast and the most southerly tip of the African continent. The west coast of the Peninsula is referred to as the "Atlantic Coast", "Atlantic Seaboard" or west coast, but the eastern side is generally known as the "False Bay Coast". Similarly, Cape Point is not the fixed "meeting point" of the cold Benguela Current , running northwards along the west coast of Africa, and the warm Agulhas Current , running south from
8148-613: The southern peninsula, and to the northeast in the northern peninsula. Anticlockwise from the east side of Table Bay. Rivers of the City Bowl: The Atlantic Seaboard: Hout Bay Valley: The Noordhoek Wetlands: The catchment areas to the north, east and to some extent the south discharge via poorly defined routes into a large wetland, the Papkuilsvlei, where there are three permanent bodies of water – Lake Michelle and
8245-406: The strictly winter rainfall area of the Western Cape, but also species with a range extending into areas where more rain falls in summer. Three major plant formations are present on the peninsula: Cape Fynbos Shrublands, Renosterveld Shrublands and associated grasslands, and Forest and Thicket. Fynbos has the largest coverage, historically about 92% of the area, and hosts the majority of species. It
8342-421: The trees. The forest is popular for walking, running and mountain biking . The western slopes of the mountain overlook the magnificent scenery of Hout Bay . A tarred road leads to the summit of Constantiaberg, where an important VHF mast is located 34°03′17.78″S 18°23′10.77″E / 34.0549389°S 18.3863250°E / -34.0549389; 18.3863250 . The mast is about 100 m high and
8439-463: The troop all day, to ward them off from wandering into the suburbs. From when this initiative was started in 2009 the number of baboons on the Peninsula has increased from 350 to 450, and the number of baboons killed or injured by residents has decreased. Himalayan tahrs , fugitive descendants of tahrs that escaped from Groote Schuur Zoo near the University of Cape Town, in 1936, used to be common on
8536-553: The two Wildevoelvleis. The westward draining rivers of the Cape Point area: There are several seasonal streams, seeps, and vleis, most of which dry up in the summer. Perennial rivers include: The eastward draining rivers of the Southern Peninsula: These rivers are generally fairly short and steep, and some, such as the Silvermine and Elsje rivers, have valley bottom wetlands at the coast. The Sandvlei catchment drains
8633-521: The two adjacent but significantly different marine ecoregions , which meet at Cape Point. Most of the lower lying coastal land of the central and northern peninsula has been developed as first agricultural, and later urban areas. The rocky uplands have historically avoided development because of difficult access, poor soils and steep slopes, and more recently have been legally protected as being of high ecological importance, but are threatened by illegal land invasion and informal settlement. The Cape Peninsula
8730-427: The unique and rich Cape Fynbos . The main vegetation type is endangered Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos , but critically endangered Peninsula Granite Fynbos , Peninsula Shale Renosterveld and Afromontane forest occur in smaller portions on the mountain ranges of the Peninsula. On the sandy Cape Flats lowlands there are a few pockets of protected Cape Flats Sand Fynbos . The Peninsula's vegetation types form part of
8827-536: The year. Dassies are an important part the Verreaux's eagle's prey on the Peninsula. Table Mountain is also home to porcupines , mongooses , snakes , lizards , tortoises , and a rare endemic species of amphibian that is only found on Table Mountain, the Table Mountain ghost frog . The last lion in the area was shot circa 1802. Leopards persisted on the mountains until perhaps the 1920s but are now extinct locally. Two smaller, secretive, nocturnal carnivores,
8924-555: Was chosen as her successor. The DA's Geordin Hill-Lewis was voted in as mayor after the 2021 local government elections. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election. The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since the election in November 2021. The municipality has a total area of 2455 km . Subdivision varies according to purpose. Main places for census purposes may differ from planning districts. The 2001 census divided
9021-499: Was deformed during the Saldanian orogenic cycle , both before and during the granite intrusions of 630 to 500 Mya, and there are minor intrusions which precede the granite. The base of this group has not been exposed. The basal rocks were eroded to a relatively featureless peneplain with exposed granites covering most of the peninsula south of Lion's Head and Devil's Peak . The Sea-Point contact zone , described by Charles Darwin
9118-569: Was elected. The Mayoral Committee consists of 10 members who are appointed by the Executive Mayor. Each member manages a different area of the local government. The current city manager is Lungelo Mbandazayo. He had been the acting city manager since the former city manager Achmat Ebrahim, who was appointed in April 2006, resigned in January 2018 amid misconduct allegations. He was formally appointed city manager in April 2018. The local municipality
9215-488: Was in third place. The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) initiated negotiations with five other smaller parties who together formed a kingmaker block of fifteen councillors, collectively known as the Multi-Party Forum parties. Despite the ID voting with the ANC, Helen Zille of the DA was elected executive mayor on 15 March 2006 by a very narrow margin with the support of the Multi-Party Forum. Andrew Arnolds of
9312-607: Was one of the four to have passed the 2009-10 audit by the Auditor-General of South Africa , who deemed it to have a clean administration. The City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality in its present form took shape after the 2000 municipal elections. The old Central Cape Town MLC council had been governed by the New National Party (NNP), but they were losing support to the African National Congress (ANC) and
9409-490: Was very low. In 1987 the divisional councils of the Cape, Paarl and Stellenbosch were dissolved and the Western Cape Regional Services Council (RSC) was created in their place. The RSC councils were indirectly elected, consisting of representatives nominated by all the local authorities within its area, including municipalities, management committees and town councils. The Cape Rural Council represented
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