| Garden Route | |
| Other Name: | Eden |
| Settlement Type: | District municipality |
| Seal Size: | 150x100px |
| Image Map1: | Map of the Eden district with local municipalities labelled.svg |
| Map Caption1: | Local municipalities within the Garden Route District |
| Coordinates: | -33.75°N 22°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | South Africa |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Western Cape |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Seat: | George |
| Parts Type: | Local municipalities |
| P1: | Kannaland |
| P2: | Hessequa |
| P3: | Mossel Bay |
| P4: | George |
| P5: | Oudtshoorn |
| P6: | Bitou |
| P7: | Knysna |
| Government Footnotes: | [1] |
| Government Type: | Municipal council |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Memory Booysen (DA) (2016-) |
| Area Total Km2: | 23331 |
| Population Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population Total: | 574265 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Racial makeup |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 24.7% |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 54.2% |
| Demographics1 Info3: | 0.4% |
| Demographics1 Info4: | 19.2% |
| Demographics Type2: | First languages |
| Demographics2 Footnotes: | [3] |
| Demographics2 Info1: | 70.8% |
| Demographics2 Info2: | 18.3% |
| Demographics2 Info3: | 7.5% |
| Demographics2 Info4: | % |
| Demographics2 Info5: | 3.4% |
| Timezone1: | SAST |
| Utc Offset1: | +2 |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Municipal code |
| Blank Info Sec1: | DC4 |
The Garden Route District Municipality (Afrikaans: Tuinroete-distriksmunisipaliteit; Xhosa: uMasipala weSithili sase Garden Route), formerly known as the Eden District Municipality,[4] is a district municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC4.
The Garden Route District Municipality covers an area of in the southeastern part of the Western Cape, covering the regions known as the Garden Route and the Little Karoo. It stretches to the Breede River mouth and the Langeberg mountains on the west, where it abuts the Overberg District Municipality and (for a short distance) the Cape Winelands District Municipality. To the north the boundary with the Central Karoo District Municipality runs along the Swartberg mountains. In the east the municipality runs up to the Eastern Cape provincial boundary.
The district is divided into seven local municipalities, described in the following table.
| Name | Seat | Population (2011) | Area (km2) | Density (inhabitants/km2) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kannaland[5] | 24,767 | 4,758 | 5.2 | ||
| Hessequa[6] | 52,642 | 5,733 | 9.2 | ||
| Mossel Bay[7] | 89,430 | 2,011 | 44.5 | ||
| George[8] | 193,672 | 5,191 | 37.3 | ||
| Oudtshoorn[9] | 95,933 | 3,537 | 27.1 | ||
| Bitou[10] | 49,162 | 992 | 49.6 | ||
| Knysna[11] | 68,659 | 1,109 | 61.9 | ||
| Total | 574,265 | 23,331 | 24.6 | ||
The following statistics are from the 2011 Census.[12] Note that due to fuzzing applied to statistics, columns may not sum to exactly the indicated total.
First language
Race
| Gender
Age
|
The council of the Garden Route District Municipality consists of thirty-five councillors. Fourteen councillors are directly elected by party-list proportional representation, and twenty-one are appointed by the councils of the local municipalities in the district: six by George, four by Mossel Bay, three each by Oudtshoorn and Knysna, two each by Hessequa and Bitou, and one by Kannaland.
After the election of 3 August 2016 there are twenty-one councillors from the Democratic Alliance (DA), twelve from the African National Congress (ANC), and one each from the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (ICOSA) and the African Independent Congress (AIC).[13]
The following table shows the detailed composition of the council.[13]
| Party | Directly elected | Appointed by local councils | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kannaland | Hessequa | Mossel Bay | George | Oudtshoorn | Bitou | Knysna | ||||
| 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 21 | ||
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |||
| 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | |||||||||
The following table shows the results of the election of the fourteen directly elected councillors.[14] [15]
| Party | Votes | Vote % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 106,242 | 53.2% | 8 | ||
| 61,755 | 30.9% | 5 | ||
| 10,791 | 5.4% | 1 | ||
| 3,965 | 2.0% | 0 | ||
| 3,604 | 1.8% | 0 | ||
| 3,380 | 1.7% | 0 | ||
| 2,592 | 1.3% | 0 | ||
| 2,439 | 1.2% | 0 | ||
| 1,804 | 0.9% | 0 | ||
| 1,018 | 0.5% | 0 | ||
| 858 | 0.4% | 0 | ||
| 525 | 0.3% | 0 | ||
| 378 | 0.2% | 0 | ||
| 314 | 0.2% | 0 | ||
| 163 | 0.1% | 0 | ||
| Total | 199,828 | 14 | ||
| Valid votes | 199,828 | 98.1% | ||
| Spoilt votes | 3,819 | 1.9% | ||
| Total votes cast | 203,647 | |||
| Registered voters | 326,165 | |||
| Turnout percentage | 62.4% | |||