The municipality covers an area of in the Little Karoo, stretching from the Swartberg in the north to the Langeberg in the south, and from the Anysberg in the west to the Gamkaberg in the east. It is drained by the Groot River and the Gourits River. It abuts on the Laingsburg and Prince Albert municipalities to the north, the Oudtshoorn Municipality to the east, the Hessequa Municipality to the south and the Swellendam and Langeberg Municipalities to the west. According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 24,767 people in 6,212 households. Of this population, 84.6% describe themselves as "Coloured", 9.9% as "White", and 4.7% as "Black African". The first language of 95.4% of the population is Afrikaans, while 2.5% speak English. The largest town and location of the municipal headquarters is Ladismith, which as of 2011 has a population of 7,127. Ladismith is at the foot of the Swartberg, as are Zoar and Calitzdorp to the east. Van Wyksdorp is further south in the valley of the Groot River.
A short-lived coalition led by the Democratic Alliance took power after the December 2000 local government elections, but it collapsed when the single Pan Africanist Congress councillor withdrew his support, and the African National Congress took control of the council in March 2001. An ANC/DA coalition took power after the local government elections in March 2006. This coalition collapsed in August 2006 and was replaced by a coalition between the DA and the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa. This coalition collapsed in September 2007 when two ICOSA and three ANC councillors crossed the floor to the new National People's Party, giving that party a majority of five seats in a council which at that time consisted of nine members. The DA refused to recognize the new NPP-led council administration as it alleged that the 2 ICOSA defectors were sacked prior to the floor-crossing window being open, and it challenged the council recomposition in the Western Cape High Court. The former mayor refused to step down pending the outcome of the case. In 2011 the auditor-general declared that he could not give a clear statement about the financial situation in the municipality because the records are missing and no one seemed to know where they were. After almost a decade of financial problems an attempt to restore order was underway in 2011 In the election of 18 May 2011 no party obtained a majority; ICOSA won three seats while the ANC and the DA won two each. ICOSA and the ANC formed a coalition to govern the municipality. The election of 3 August 2016 left the party composition of the council unchanged. The DA and ANC councillors formed a coalition to govern without ICOSA, but DA national leadership said that the coalition had not been authorized. In March 2017 the ANC recalled its councillors to put an end to the coalition. However the mayor has not been recalled despite the national ANC structures stating that this would happen. A motion of no confidence in the mayor and speaker of the municipality was put forward in August 2017. The motion failed with the DA and ANC in the municipality against the motion, leaving the ANC mayor Magdalene Barry in power. The Democratic Alliance spokesperson on local government stated that the party would side with the ANC in order to keep the Independent Civic Organisation away from the public purse. This follows forensic evidence detailing financial misconduct that amounted to more than R14 million under Jeffrey Donson's tenure.
Election results
The following table shows the results of the 2016 election. The local council sends one representative to the council of the Garden Route District Municipality. that councillor is a representative of the DA.
