Stellenbosch Local Municipality: History
At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the Stellenbosch Municipality formed part of the Western Cape Regional Services Council (RSC). The towns of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek were governed by municipal councils elected by their white residents. The coloured residents of Idas Valley and Cloetesville (Stellenbosch) and Groendal (Franschhoek) were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils; those resident in Johannesdal, Kylemore and Klapmuts South by management committees subordinate to the RSC. Kayamandi was governed by a town council established under the Black Local Authorities Act, 1982. The former mission station of Pniel was governed by a board of management.
While the negotiations to end apartheid were taking place a process was established for local authorities to agree on voluntary mergers. The Franschhoek Municipality and Groendal Management Committee took part in this process, merging to create the non-racial Municipality for the Area of Franschhoek in September 1992.
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 January 1995 the Pniel Management Board was replaced by the Pniel TLC. In February 1995 the Stellenbosch TLC was established, replacing the Stellenbosch Municipality, the Kayamandi Town Council, and the management committees of Idas Valley/Cloetesville, Johannesdal, Kylemore and Klapmuts South. In the same month the Franschhoek TLC replaced the Municipality for the Area of Franschhoek, and the Western Cape RSC was reconstituted as the Winelands RSC after the Cape Town metropolitan area was removed from the jurisdiction of the RSC.
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 Winelands District Council was established, replacing the Winelands 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 Stellenbosch Municipality included the Stellenbosch TRC and part of the Paarl TRC.
At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Stellenbosch Municipality was established as a single local authority. At the same election the Winelands District Council was also dissolved and replaced by the Boland District Municipality. In 2006 a rural area to the southeast of Brackenfell was removed from the City of Cape Town and added to Stellenbosch Municipality.