| Karoo Hoogland | |
| Settlement Type: | Local municipality |
| Seal Size: | 150x100px |
| Coordinates: | -31.75°N 36°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | South Africa |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Northern Cape |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Namakwa |
| Seat: | Williston |
| Parts Type: | Wards |
| Parts: | 6 |
| Government Footnotes: | [1] |
| Government Type: | Municipal council |
| Leader Party: | PA |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Anthony Mietas |
| Area Total Km2: | 32274 |
| Population Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population Total: | 12588 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Racial makeup |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 5.5% |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 78.9% |
| Demographics1 Info3: | 0.7% |
| Demographics1 Info4: | 14.6% |
| Demographics Type2: | First languages |
| Demographics2 Footnotes: | [3] |
| Demographics2 Info1: | 96.3% |
| Demographics2 Info2: | 1.3% |
| Demographics2 Info3: | % |
| Demographics2 Info4: | % |
| Demographics2 Info5: | 2.4% |
| Timezone1: | SAST |
| Utc Offset1: | +2 |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Municipal code |
| Blank Info Sec1: | NC066 |
Karoo Hoogland Municipality (af|Karoo Hoogland Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality within the Namakwa District Municipality, in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The municipality incorporates the towns of Williston, Fraserburg and Sutherland. Although the towns are separated by more than 100 km by road, they share many administrative tasks.
Hoogland is an Afrikaans word meaning "highland" and Karoo is a Khoekhoe word meaning "hard" or "dry". The name reflects the area which has dry, arid and desert-like conditions.[4]
In 2011, Karoo Hoogland elected the first mayor from the Congress of the People (COPE) party, Jan Julies, and a COPE-DA coalition took control of the council after the election of 18 May 2011.[5] This lasted until the 2016 elections.
The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places:[6]
| Place | Code | Area (km2) | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 367003 | 98.9 | 3,029 | ||
| 367004 | 36.0 | 2,836 | ||
| 367001 | 77.9 | 3,368 | ||
| Remainder | 367002 | 32,061.1 | 3,356 | |
| Total | 32,273.9 | 12,588 | ||
See main article: Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality elections. The municipal council consists of eleven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Six councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in six wards, while the remaining five 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 no party obtained a majority of seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.[7] [8]
| Karoo Hoogland local election, 1 November 2021 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | Seats | ||||||
| Ward | List | Total | % | Ward | List | Total | ||
| 1,815 | 1,803 | 3,618 | 40.8% | 3 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 1,337 | 1,335 | 2,672 | 30.2% | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 962 | 994 | 1,956 | 22.1% | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 229 | 225 | 454 | 5.1% | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 42 | 60 | 102 | 1.2% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 29 | 29 | 58 | 0.7% | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 4,414 | 4,446 | 8,860 | 6 | 5 | 11 | ||
| Valid votes | 4,414 | 4,446 | 8,860 | 98.7% | ||||
| Spoilt votes | 64 | 57 | 121 | 1.3% | ||||
| Total votes cast | 4,478 | 4,503 | 8,981 | |||||
| Voter turnout | 4,507 | |||||||
| Registered voters | 7,250 | |||||||
| Turnout percentage | 62.2% | |||||||
On 8 December 2022 the PA/ANC coalition collapsed during a no confidence motion brought by the DA. Consequently the PA mayor Anthony Mietas was replaced by the DA’s Johan van der Colff.[9]