The municipality covers an area of around the towns of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. To the west and southwest it extends as far as the urban edge of the Cape Town metropolitan area, while to the east and southeast it is bounded by mountain ranges. The western part of the municipality around Stellenbosch and the eastern part in the Franschhoek valley are separated by mountains through which the Helshoogte Pass travels. The Stellenbosch Municipality abuts on the Drakenstein Municipality to the north, the Breede Valley Municipality to the northeast, the Theewaterskloof Municipality to the southeast and the City of Cape Town to the west and southwest. About half of the residents of the municipality live in Stellenbosch and its suburbs, which have a total population of 77,476. The second-largest town is Franschhoek with 15,616 residents. Klapmuts is situated on the northern edge of the municipality next to the N1 national road. In the Helshoogte Pass between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are the villages of Pniel, Kylemore and Languedoc. Other rural settlements in the municipality are Jamestown, Koelenhof, Lynedoch, Raithby and Wiesiesdraai.
Demographics
According to the South African National Census of 2011, the population of the Stellenbosch Municipality is 155,733 people. This represents an annual growth rate of 2.7% compared to the result of the previous census in 2001 which found a population of 118,709 people. The sex ratio is 96, meaning that there are slightly more women than men. 52.2% of the population described themselves as "Coloured", 28.1% as "Black African", 18.5% as "White", and 0.4% as "Indian or Asian". Of those residents who were asked about their first language, 67.7% spoke Afrikaans, 20.8% spoke Xhosa and 7.2% spoke English. 22.8% of the population is under the age of 15, while 4.9% is 65 or older. Of those residents aged 20 or older, 3.2% have no schooling, 13.0% have some schooling but did not finish primary school, 6.2% finished primary school but have no secondary schooling, 35.0% have some secondary schooling but did not finish Grade 12, 25.3% finished Grade 12 but have no higher education, and 17.4% have higher education. Overall, 42.7% have at least a Grade 12 education. Of those aged between 5 and 25, 70.0% are attending an educational institution. Amongst those aged between 15 and 65 the unemployment rate is 15.1%. The average annual household income is R154,617. There are 43,420 households in the municipality, giving an average household size of 3.3 people. Of those households, 75.1% are in formal structures, while 22.9% are in informal structures. 92.9% of households use electricity for lighting. 80.5% of households have piped water to the dwelling, while 18.6% have piped water through a communal tap. 89.4% of households have regular refuse collection service. 91.7% of households have a flush toilet or chemical toilet, while 2.6% still use a bucket toilet. 81.1% of households have a refrigerator, 83.0% have a television and 67.6% have a radio. Only 25.9% have a landline telephone, but 89.2% have a cellphone. 37.7% have a computer, and 45.3% have access to the Internet.
Politics
The municipal council consists of forty-three members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twenty-two councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-two wards, while the remaining twenty-one are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the 2016 local government elections, the Democratic Alliance received a majority of thirty seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the 2016 election. The local council sends five representatives to the council of the Cape Winelands District Municipality: four from the Democratic Alliance and one from the African National Congress
In the local government elections of 2000, the Democratic Alliance came to power in Stellenbosch. The administration was short-lived, however, and in October 2002, an African National Congress and New National Party coalition took over the council when four councillors defected from the DA and a local community party during a floor-crossing period. Willie Ortell was elected mayor and GW Adonis was chosen as deputy mayor. After the next local government elections in 2006, a coalition was formed by the DA and several smaller parties, and Lauretta Maree of the DA was elected as executive mayor and Khulile Shubani of the United Democratic Movement as deputy-mayor. In February 2008 councillor Myra Linders left the DA and stood as an independent candidate in the resulting by-election, and won. Her shift in allegiance allowed an ANC-led coalition, with the swing votes of the two councillors from the Kayamandi Community Alliance to take control of the council in April 2008. Patrick Swartz of the KCA was elected mayor while Cameron Mcako of the ANC became deputy mayor. After serious allegations of fraud by councillors surfaced, Myra Linders once again used her swing vote to topple the administration in December 2009 by supporting a DA-led motion of no-confidence in the mayor, deputy mayor and speaker Gordon Pheiffer of the ANC. Cyril Jooste of the DA became the new mayor, and Mcako and Pheiffer both resigned. In the 2011 local government elections voters handed the DA an outright majority of twenty-five seats on the council, resulting in the first stable municipal council in more than a decade. Conrad Sidego of the DA was appointed the new mayor. In the 2016 local government elections, the DA increased their majority in the council to thirty seats. Gesie van Deventer of the DA was elected as the new mayor.
