Wards 60 Municipal code NMA White population 14.4% | Seat Port Elizabeth Time zone SAST (UTC+2) Area 1,959 km² Municipality Port Elizabeth Mayor Athol Trollip (DA) | |
Points of interest Algoa Bay, Red Location Museum, Kragga Kamma Game Park, Nelson Mandela Metropolit, South African Air Force Mu | ||
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (Afrikaans: Nelson Mandelabaai Metropolitaanse Munisipaliteit) is one of eight Metropolitan (or Category A) municipalities in South Africa. It is located on the shores of Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape province, and comprises the city of Port Elizabeth, the nearby towns of Uitenhage and Despatch, and the surrounding rural area.
Contents
Map of Port Elizabeth, South Africa
The name "Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality" was chosen to honour former President Nelson Mandela.
History
In 2001, the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality was formed as an administrative area covering Port Elizabeth, the neighbouring towns of Uitenhage and Despatch and the surrounding agricultural areas.
Demographics and statistics
As of the census of 2001, there are 1,005,776 people and 260,798 households in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality. The official estimate of population in 2007 was 1,050,930.
In the 2007 census, 60.4% of respondents described themselves as Black African, 22.6% Coloured, 16.1% White and 0.9% Indian/Asian.
The largest religious groupings are Christian (89.4% of residents), No Religion (6.1%), Muslim (1.5%), Jewish (0.4%) and Hindu (0.3%).
57.3% of the residents speak Xhosa as their mother tongue. Afrikaans is the mother tongue of 29.7%, and English, 12.1%.
According to the 2009 edition of the municipality's 2006–2011 Integrated Development Plan, manufacturing is the single largest contributor to the local economy (33%), followed by community services (27%). Tourism represents a key sector of the economy that has increasingly contributed to job creation in recent years, thanks in large part to the municipality's seaside location and its abundance of unspoiled beaches, of which four carry Blue Flag status.
100% of households have access to a source of water within a 200 m radius. 91% of households have access to a basic level of sanitation. 100% of households within the urban boundary have access to a basic level of solid waste removal, and 97% of households in formally demarcated municipal residential areas have access to a basic level of electricity. The municipality has 41 permanent and satellite clinics, 13 mobile clinics, eight hospitals, 22 libraries, 31 community and municipal halls, 79 sports facilities, 19 beaches, 18 pools, 273 schools, one university (the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University), four technical colleges and two Further Education and Training institutions.
Government
The municipal council consists of one hundred and twenty members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Sixty councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in sixty wards, while the remaining sixty are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.
The council has been dominated by the African National Congress since its inception until 2016. In the most recent election on 3 August 2016, the African National Congress lost their majority. The Democratic Alliance gained 57 seats, 4 seats short of a majority. On 17 August 2016, the Democratic Alliance announced a coalition government with the African Christian Democratic Party, the Congress of the People, and the United Democratic Movement. The following table shows the results of the election.
Main places
The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places: