| Cape Town City Council | |
|---|---|
| 3rd Unicity Council | |
| Type | |
| Type | Unicameral |
| Leadership | |
| Speaker | Jacobus "Dirk" Smit, Democratic Alliance since 15 March 2006 |
| Structure | |
| Members | 221 |
| Political groups |
DA (135)
ANC (73)
ACDP (3)
COPE (3)
|
| Elections | |
| Voting system | MMP |
| Last election | 18 May 2011 |
| Meeting place | |
| Council Chamber, Cape Town Civic Centre, 12 Hertzog Boulevard, Cape Town | |
| Website | |
| http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/CouncilOnline/ | |
The City Council is the legislative body of the City of Cape Town. It is composed of 221 councillors elected by a system of mixed member proportional representation. 111 councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting, one from each of the 111 electoral wards of the City, while the other 110 are elected from party lists to create overall proportionality. The mayor of the City is elected by the City Council.
The Cape Town City Council is unusual among municipal legislatures, both in and out of South Africa, in its numerical size, which is larger than the national legislatures of many countries.
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The Council is further broken down into 23 subcouncils, which serve as localized councils for clusters of electoral wards.
Members of the City Council, both ward-elected and proportionally-elected, usually compose the membership of the subcouncils. The subcouncils are delegated the authority to make recommendations on any matter concerning their respective areas to the Council, and can, under certain provisions and circumstances, be instructed to carry out functions of the City Council in the respective area. Subcouncils are consist of geographically clustered wards with proportional councillors assigned to them and led by a subcouncil chairman who is elected by a majority vote of each subcouncil.
After the March 2006 local government elections the DA took 13 subcouncils, followed by 7 for the ANC, 2 for the ACDP and 1 for the ID.
After the floor crossing in September 2007, the subcouncils were reconstituted with 15 going to the DA, 4 to the ID, 2 to the ACDP while the ANC retained only 2 after losing 5 subcouncils.
The following table shows the results of the election of 18 May 2011 in the City of Cape Town:
| Party | Ward | PR | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| Democratic Alliance | 675,020 | 60.7% | 682,929 | 61.1% | 1,357,949 | 60.9% | |
| African National Congress | 360,827 | 32.4% | 370,420 | 33.2% | 731,247 | 32.8% | |
| African Christian Democratic Party | 15,227 | 1.4% | 11,873 | 1.1% | 27,100 | 1.2% | |
| Congress of the People | 12,059 | 1.1% | 12,596 | 1.1% | 24,655 | 1.1% | |
| National Party | 5,718 | 0.5% | 6,038 | 0.5% | 11,756 | 0.5% | |
| United Democratic Movement | 4,402 | 0.4% | 4,290 | 0.4% | 8,692 | 0.4% | |
| Al Jama-ah | 4,310 | 0.4% | 3,928 | 0.4% | 8,238 | 0.4% | |
| Africa Muslim Party | 4,430 | 0.4% | 3,157 | 0.3% | 7,587 | 0.3% | |
| Cape Muslim Congress | 3,658 | 0.3% | 2,740 | 0.2% | 6,398 | 0.3% | |
| Independent | 5,893 | 0.5% | N/A | 5,893 | 0.3% | ||
| Pan Africanist Congress | 2,606 | 0.2% | 1,993 | 0.2% | 4,599 | 0.2% | |
| Freedom Front Plus | 2,121 | 0.2% | 1,864 | 0.2% | 3,985 | 0.2% | |
| 24 smaller parties (<0.15% each) | 16,026 | 1.4% | 15,019 | 1.3% | 31,045 | 1.4% | |
| Total | 1,112,297 | 1,116,847 | 2,229,144 | ||||
| Spoilt votes | 11,518 | 8,998 | 20,516 | ||||
The Democratic Alliance won 78 of the individual ward elections, and the ANC won 33. As a result, the final seat allocation was as follows:
| Party | Ward | PR top-up | Total | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Alliance | 78 | 57 | 135 | 61.1% | |
| African National Congress | 33 | 40 | 73 | 33.0% | |
| African Christian Democratic Party | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1.4% | |
| Congress of the People | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1.4% | |
| Africa Muslim Party | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.5% | |
| Al Jama-ah | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.5% | |
| Cape Muslim Congress | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.5% | |
| National Party | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.5% | |
| Pan Africanist Congress | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.5% | |
| United Democratic Movement | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.5% | |
| Freedom Front Plus | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.5% | |
| Total | 111 | 110 | 221 | 100.0% | |
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