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25-764: The municipality covers an area of 2,011 square kilometres (776 sq mi) on the coastal plain between the Outeniqua Mountains and the sea. It stretches from the Gourits River in the west to beyond the Great Brak River in the east. It is drained by the Gourits, Hartenbos , Little Brak and Great Brak Rivers. It abuts on the Hessequa Municipality to the west, the Oudtshoorn Municipality to

50-455: A Hawker Siddeley HS 748 turboprop aircraft. Near George Airport , the pilots lost visibility in clouds and were unable to land, partly due to unusable navigational equipment. While circling, the plane crashed into the Outeniqua mountains northeast of the airport. Cronje, aged 32, and the two pilots were killed instantly. The range is characterized by gentle southern slopes and steep drops on

75-460: A Khoikhoi tribe that once lived in the mountains, and means "they who bear honey". Indigenous rock paintings can still be found in the area. The San and Khoi people inhabited the mountains before the arrival of Europeans in the 1600s. The rugged mountains have long posed a barrier to the Klein Karoo and early settlers in the late 1600s used to follow herds of elephants to find easier ways through

100-478: A process of local government transformation began, in which negotiations were held between the existing local authorities, political parties, and local community organisations. As a result of these negotiations, the existing local authorities were dissolved and transitional local councils (TLCs) were created for each town and village. The smaller seaside resorts were also combined with larger towns. The transitional councils were initially made up of members nominated by

125-886: A small part of the Outeniqua TRC. At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Mossel Bay Municipality was established as a single local authority. At the same election the South Cape District Council was dissolved and replaced by the Eden District Municipality . The Hon Alan Winde MMP The Seventh Provincial Parliament Speaker Daylin Mitchell MMP Deputy Speaker Reagan Allen MMP Chief Whip of

150-598: Is Mossel Bay on the Cape St Blaize peninsula, which as of 2011 has a population of 59,031. Northeast of Mossel Bay is a string of coastal resorts along the shores of the bay: Hartenbos (pop. 4,196), Little Brak River (pop. 2,037), Reebok (pop. 1,112), Tergniet (pop. 1,264) and Great Brak River (pop. 10,619). To the southwest of Mossel Bay are the smaller coastal villages of Boggomsbaai (pop. 69) and Vleesbaai (pop. 193). Herbertsdale (pop. 666), Brandwag (pop. 1,470) and Friemersheim (pop. 1,235) are situated in

175-632: The African National Congress (ANC) and 3 for ICOSA. Following the September 2007, floor-crossing window the DA gained an outright majority when 3 councillors defected to the DA resulting in the DA holding 13 seats out of 23 while the ANC lost a seat to the DA and currently has 7. ICOSA lost its representation in the council when 2 councillors defected to the DA and its one ward councillor became an independent. In

200-672: The Cape sugarbird and other fynbos birds. In 1908, work started on a railway route over the range from George to Oudtshoorn . This required the building of seven tunnels and numerous long cuttings. The line was opened in August 1913. The first road pass to cross the range into the Langkloof went via Duiwelskop, some 32 km east of George. In 1816, Cradock Pass, named after the Governor, Sir John Cradock , finished construction, and became known as

225-408: The election of 18 May 2011 the DA won a majority of sixteen seats on the council. In the election of 3 August 2016 the DA increased its majority to seventeen seats. The DA further expanded that majority to nineteen seats in the election of 1 November 2021 . The following table shows the results of the 2021 election. In 2007, crime figures revealed that Mossel Bay recorded the lowest crime rates in

250-449: The "Voortrekker Road". It had a difficult reputation. As early as 1831, Magistrate George van der Riet had inspected the road and found it to be a "complete bar" for all trade activities, and it had been characterised over time variously as "the most formidably bad, if not of all roads I ever saw", a "stupendous mountain" and "dangerous and very bad". In 1847, a vastly improved Montagu Pass was constructed by convict labour, and named after

275-586: The Colonial Secretary, John Montagu . In 1943, to cope with the increasing demands of modern traffic, construction was started on the Outeniqua Pass , using the labour of Italian prisoners of war. At the end of World War II the Italians returned home with the greater part of the pass unfinished. The pass was opened to traffic in September 1951, having cost approximately £500 000. Two other road passes cross

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300-702: The Majority Party Gillon Bosman MMP Leader of the Opposition Khalid Sayed MMP Chief Whip of the Official Opposition Ayanda Bans MMP Municipal: The municipal council consists of twenty-nine members elected by mixed-member proportional representation . Fifteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in fifteen wards , while the remaining fourteen are chosen from party lists so that

325-741: The Outeniqua Khoikhoi who lived there, is a mountain range that runs a parallel to the southern coast of South Africa, and forms a continuous range with the Langeberg to the west and the Tsitsikamma Mountains to the east. It was known as Serra de Estrella (Mountain of the Star) to the Portuguese. The mountains are part of the Garden Route of South Africa . "Outeniqua" is said to be derived from

350-452: The Outeniqua range are klipspringer , grey rhebuck, leopard and various rodents . The Outeniqua mountain range is also home to a very small number of African elephants. Although described as functionally extinct, new sightings of these very elusive animals, including that of a young bull give hope that the fabled animals might with time become re-established in the Outeniqua reserve. Birds include black eagles and other raptors as well as

375-820: The Outeniqua: the Robinson Pass west of George; and Prince Alfred's Pass, which connects Uniondale with Knysna . 1995%E2%80%9396 South African municipal elections Municipal elections were held in South Africa in 1995 and 1996. Over 11 000 seats were contested of which the African National Congress won 6 032, the National Party 1 814, the Inkhata Freedom Party 754 and the Democratic Party 138. The elections were held on 1 November 1995 in most of

400-478: The area. The region was first explored by white settlers in 1668. In 1782 French explorer ornithologist François Levaillant explored the area, and discovered farmers had settled at foot of the mountain range. On 1 June 2002, former South Africa cricket captain Hansie Cronje 's scheduled flight home from Johannesburg to George, Western Cape was grounded so he hitched a ride as the only passenger on board

425-441: The country. Between August 2006 and July 2007, there were no murders, hijackings, or business robberies. The low unemployment rate has been cited as a factor for the low crime rates. In 2018 two minicipal workers were arrested after swindling the municipality out of R138,000 by changing the amounts charged for grave sites. Each received a three year jail sentence. Outeniqua Mountains The Outeniqua Mountains , named after

450-565: The interior of the municipality closer to the mountains. At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the Mossel Bay Municipality formed part of the South Cape Regional Services Council (RSC). The towns of Mossel Bay , Hartenbos , Great Brak River and Herbertsdale were governed by municipal councils elected by their white residents. The coloured residents of D'Almeida (Mossel Bay) and Great Brak River were governed by management committees subordinate to

475-491: The north and the George Municipality to the east. According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 89,430 people in 28,025 households. Of this population, 43.5% describe themselves as " Coloured ", 29.5% as " Black African ", and 25.5% as " White ". The first language of 67.6% of the population is Afrikaans , while 21.5% speak Xhosa , 6.5% speak English and 1.3% speak Sotho . The principal town

500-452: The north side down to the low valley Little Karoo . High points include Cradock Peak at 1578 m and George Peak at 1370 m located to the north of George . The varying conditions create diverse habitats. On the south-facing slopes there is montane fynbos at higher, moister altitudes, while the north hosts karroid and renosterveld shrubland. On the mesic southern slopes there are Afromontane gallery forests. The high rainfall on

525-471: The range has created numerous perennial streams used for irrigation in the Olifants River valley. While the climate along the range is generally hot to moderate, with an average summer temperature of 20.5 °C, weather conditions can vary greatly. In winter the temperature can drop to 5 °C (and even lower on the southern slopes) and snowfalls may occur on the higher peaks. Among the animals found in

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550-540: The total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. Marie Ferreira of the Democratic Alliance (DA) became executive mayor after the March 2006 local government elections when the DA formed a coalition with Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (ICOSA) since no single party had obtained an outright majority. The DA held 10 seats in the (then) 23-seat council followed by 8 for

575-579: The various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when elections were held . At the time of these elections the South Cape District Council was established in place of the South Cape RSC, and transitional representative councils (TRCs) were elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the District Council. The area that was to become Mossel Bay Municipality included the Mossel Bay TRC and

600-489: The white councils. Kwanonqaba was governed by a town council established under the Black Local Authorities Act, 1982 . The smaller coastal resorts were governed by local councils: a council for Boggomsbaai , a council covering Little Brak River , Reebok and Tergniet , and another council named Gleniqua covering Glentana , Outeniquastrand and Bothastrand . The former missionary settlement of Friemersheim

625-660: Was governed by a board of management. While the negotiations to end apartheid were taking place a process was established for local authorities to agree on voluntary mergers. In March 1992, the Municipality of Great Brak River, the Great Brak River Management Committee and the Gleniqua Local Council merged into a single Municipality for the Area of Great Brak River. After the national elections of 1994

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