Time zone SAST (UTC+2) Area 2,619 km² Black african population 55% Native english speakers 3.6% | Wards 5 Municipal code NC453 White population 14% Native afrikaans speakers 53.9% Native sotho speakers 1.4% | |
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Gamagara Local Municipality is an administrative area in the John Taolo Gaetsewe District of the Northern Cape in South Africa.
Contents
Map of Kathu, South Africa
The name Gamogara is of Setswana origin. The municipality is named after a dry river which was in turn named after a man called Mogara of the Makwere clan (Batlhaping). During the early days of exploration, Mogara was the first person to settle in this part of the country. After 1887, the area became dominated by white farmers who then changed the name as they were unable to pronounce it correctly. Hence it was called Gamagara instead of Gamogara. The name is derived from a dry river that ran from Dibeng to join the Kuruman (Segonyana) river at Dikgatlong tsa ga Kganyile. Incidentally this is the route the Ba ga Motlhware followed on their way to their headquarters, Maje a Mokhothu (Langeberg).
Main places
The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:
Politics
The municipal council consists of ten members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Five councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in five 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 18 May 2011 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of six seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.