Breede Valley Local Municipality: History
At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the Breede Valley Municipality formed part of the Breërivier Regional Services Council (RSC). The towns of Worcester, Rawsonville, De Doorns and Touws River were governed by municipal councils elected by their white residents. The coloured residents of Worcester, De Doorns and Touws River were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. Zweletemba was governed by a town council established under the Black Local Authorities Act, 1982.
While the negotiations to end apartheid were taking place a process was established for local authorities to agree on voluntary mergers. In January 1993, the Municipality of Worcester and the Worcester Management Committee merged into a single municipal council. Similar mergers occurred in De Doorns in June 1993 and Touws River in October 1993.
After the national elections of 1994 a process of local government transformation began, in which negotiations were held between the existing local authorities, political parties, and local community organisations. As a result of these negotiations, the existing local authorities were dissolved and transitional local councils (TLCs) were created for each town and village. In October 1994 the Municipality of Worcester and the Zweletemba Town Council were replaced by the Worcester TLC. In December the Municipality of Touws River was replaced by the Touws River TLC; and in January 1995 the municipalities of De Doorns and Rawsonville were both replaced by TLCs.
The transitional councils were initially made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when elections were held. At these elections the Breërivier District Council was established, replacing the Breërivier RSC. Transitional representative councils (TRCs) were also elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the District Council; the area that was to become Breede Valley Municipality included most of the Matroosberg TRC.
At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Breede Valley Municipality was established as a single local authority. At the same election the Breërivier District Council was also dissolved and replaced by the Boland District Municipality. In 2011 when District Management Areas were abolished, the eastern boundary of the municipality was extended to include the sparsely populated region to the east of Touws River which had formerly been part of a DMA.