The Amathole District Municipality () is one of the 7 districts of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The seat is East London. As of 2011, over 90% of its 892,637 inhabitants spoke isiXhosa. The district code is DC12. Amathole means "calves", the name of the mountain range and forest which form the northern boundary of the district.
Government The Executive Mayor of Amathole District Municipality since 2016 is Anele Ntsangani, [] and the Municipal Manager is [Dr Bhekisisa J Mthembu].
Geography Neighbours Amathole is surrounded by: Chris Hani District (DC13) to the north OR Tambo District (DC15) to the north-east the Indian Ocean to the south-east Sarah Baartman District (DC10) to west
Local municipalities The district contains the following local municipalities:
Local municipalityPopulation%Mnquma 252,390 28.27%Mbhashe 254,909 28.56%Amahlathi 122,778 13.75%Ngqushwa 72,190 8.09%Great Kei 38,991 4.37%Raymond Mhlaba 151,379 16.96%Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, following amalgamation of Nxuba (24,264; 2.72%) and Nkonkobe (127,115; 14.24%)] municipalities.
Demographics The following statistics are from the 2011 census.
Languages LanguagePopulation%Xhosa 817,395 93.62%English 19,647 2.25%Afrikaans 18,230 2.09%Sign language 5,164 0.59%Zulu 2,637 0.30%Other2,391 0.27%Sotho 2,069 0.24%Northern Sotho 1,7410.20%Ndebele 1,691 0.19%Tswana 1,167 0.13%Venda401 0.05%Swati 345 0.04%Tsonga 250 0.03%
Gender GenderPopulation%Female 473,389 53.03%Male 419,247 46.97%
Ethnic group Ethnic groupPopulation%Black African 868,017 97.24%Coloured 13,133 1.47%White 8,949 1.00%Indian/Asian 1,126 0.13%
Age AgePopulation%000 - 004 147,098 8.84%005 - 009 192,361 11.56%010 - 014 216,586 13.01%015 - 019 208,995 12.56%020 - 024 146,750 8.82%025 - 029 115,632 6.95%030 - 034 99,327 5.97%035 - 039 96,666 5.81%040 - 044 92,560 5.56%045 - 049 77,430 4.65%050 - 054 59,027 3.55%055 - 059 47,029 2.83%060 - 064 53,352 3.21%065 - 069 38,858 2.33%070 - 074 31,716 1.91%075 - 079 18,830 1.13%080 - 084 15,262 0.92%085 - 089 4,022 0.24%090 - 094 2,026 0.12%095 - 099 559 0.03%100 plus 173 0.01%
Politics Election results Election results for Amathole in the South African general election, 2004. Population 18 and over: 979,166 [58.83% of total population] Total votes: 630,953 [37.91% of total population] Voting % estimate: 64.44% votes as a % of population 18 and over PartyVotes%African National Congress 523,630 82.99%United Democratic Movement 50,559 8.01%Democratic Alliance 32,467 5.15%Pan Africanist Congress of Azania 7,627 1.21%African Christian Democratic Party 4,492 0.71%Independent Democrats 3,680 0.58%New National Party 2,600 0.41%Freedom Front Plus 795 0.13%Inkhata Freedom Party 785 0.12%Azanian People's Organisation 765 0.12%SOPA 740 0.12%United Christian Democratic Party 625 0.10%EMSA 407 0.06%Peace and Justice Congress 400 0.06%UF 293 0.05%National Alliance 269 0.04%Christian Democratic Party 257 0.04%TOP 236 0.04%Keep It Straight and Simple Party 132 0.02%New Labour Party 109 0.02%Minority Front 85 0.01%Total 630,953 100.00%
Maladministration As of January 2024, the municipality is under administration, one of 32 in the country, and three in the Eastern Cape where the provincial executive has intervened due to maladministration
References
External links Amathole DM Official Website