This post gives the potted history of Nquthu municipality and the surrounding areas, helping to explain why so many parties seem to be campaigning so hard for a relatively unimportant municipality.
(Note: this article first appeared here) Introduction The City of Cape Town metro was once a fiercely contested battleground. Control of the metro changed hands a few times between 2000 and 2007, with various ANC-led and DA-led coalitions holding power at different points.
All the buzz and hubbub is around the four metros where coalitions will be needed (Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni) but there are another 23 municipalities with no clear winners.
Below is the map of the status of South African municipalities after the 2016 municipal elections. The municipalities have been divided into those which have a clear majority and those which should need coalition governments. Those with a clear majority have been further divided into those which are relatively safe for the particular governing party […]
Elections are less than four weeks away. Do you know which parties are contesting your ward?
There’s only one merger in the Northern Cape but there are many municipalities that hang in the balance in the largest province in South Africa: 17 of the 27 local municipalities have a council majority of two seats or fewer. The swing of a single seat in any of these municipalities could deliver a change […]
Here’s the first in a series of blogs analysing the changes in political boundaries and how these might affect the balance of power in some marginal municipalities. We’ll look at the boundary changes in the Eastern Cape province first.
I know, I know, the headline is a little bit clickbaity. But you know that we have the good stuff on this blog. Here are two maps which will give you the solid background you need to speak intelligibly and intelligently about the upcoming municipal elections.
The Municipal Demarcation Board released the new boundary demarcations (district municipalities, local municipalities and municipal wards). These boundaries are available as shape files, so we can now map the old boundaries onto the new. Specifically, we can see how the changes in ward boundaries might affect 2016 seats won by the various parties.
Here’s a map of the 2011 municipal ward winners by party. It was made using CartoDB, which is one of my favourite mapping programmes. As you can see, it’s ridiculously easy to make really beautiful maps with it. If you click on a particular ward you’ll see a little information box pop up with the […]