Western Cape Wes-Kaap (Afrikaans) Ntshona-Koloni (Xhosa)
—  Province of South Africa  —
The Province of the Western Cape
Coat of arms
Motto: Spes Bona (Good Hope)
Location of the Western Cape in South Africa
Country	South Africa
Established	27 April 1994 (1994-04-27)
Capital	Cape Town
Districts	6 City of Cape Town West Coast Cape Winelands Overberg Eden Central Karoo
Government
• Type	Parliamentary system
• Premier	Helen Zille (DA)
Area[1]
• Total	129,462 km2 (49,986 sq mi)
Area rank	4th in South Africa
Highest elevation	2,325 m (7,628 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population (2007)[2][3]
• Total	5,278,585
• Estimate (2011)	5,287,863
• Rank	4th in South Africa
• Density	41/km2 (110/sq mi)
• Density rank	5th in South Africa
Population groups[4]
• Coloured	50.2%
• Black African	30.1%
• White	18.4%
• Indian or Asian	1.3%
Languages[5]
• Afrikaans	55.3%
• Xhosa	23.7%
• English	19.3%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	ZA-WC
GDP (nominal)[6]	2009
- Total	R 264.98 billion US$ 33.88 billion
- Per capita	R 50,726 US$ 6,488
- Growth	-1.45%
Website	www.westerncape.gov.za

The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger (and now defunct) Cape Province. Prior to the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, it was called the Cape Colony (see the History of Cape Colony).

Geography[link]

Map of the Western Cape

The Western Cape is roughly L-shaped, extending north and east from the Cape of Good Hope, the southwestern corner of South Africa. It stretches about 400 kilometres (250 mi) northwards along the Atlantic coast and about 500 kilometres (300 mi) eastwards along the Indian Ocean coast. It is bordered on the north by the Northern Cape and on the east by the Eastern Cape. The total land area of the province is 129,462 square kilometres (49,986 sq mi),^[7] about 10.6% of the country’s total. It is roughly the size of England or the US state of Louisiana.

The Breede, Berg and Olifants Rivers are major rivers of the province. The capital is Cape Town and other major cities include Stellenbosch, Worcester, Paarl, and George. The Garden Route and the Overberg are popular coastal tourism areas.

The Western Cape is exceptionally topographically diverse. Most of the province falls within the Cape Fold Belt, a range of sandstone folded mountains of Permian to Carboniferous age that range in height from 1000m to 2300m. The valleys between ranges are generally very fertile and contains alluvial loamy to clay soils.^{[citation needed]} The far interior forms part of the Karoo Basin and is generally arid and hilly with a sharp escarpment in the north. Coastal areas range from sandy between capes, to rocky to steep and mountainous in places. The Western Cape is also the southernmost region of the African continent with Cape Agulhas as its southernmost point, only 3800 km from the Antarctic coastline.

Vegetation is also extremely diverse, with one of the world's seven floral kingdoms almost exclusively endemic to the province, namely the Cape Floral Kingdom, most of which is covered by Fynbos (Afrikaans: Fine Bush). It is extremely rich in species diversity, with more plant species occurring on Table Mountain than the entire United Kingdom. It is characterised by various types of shrubs, thousands of flowering plant species and some small trees.

The arid interior is dominated by Karoo drought-resistant shrubbery. The West Coast and Little Karoo are semi-arid regions and are typified by many species of succulents and drought-resistant shrubs and acacia trees. The Garden Route is extremely lush, with temperate rainforest (or Afromontane Forest) covering many areas adjacent to the coast and along the mountain ranges. Typical species are hardwoods of exceptional height, such as Yellowwood, Stinkwood and Ironwood trees.

Climate[link]

The Western Cape is also diverse climatologically, with many distinct micro- and macroclimates created by the varied topography and the influence of both the Indian (warm water) and Atlantic (cold water) oceans, thus climatic statistics can vary greatly over short distances. Most of the province is considered to have a Mediterranean climate with cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. The interior Karoo has a semi-arid climate with cold, frosty winters and hot summers with occasional thunderstorms. The Garden Route and the Overberg on the south coast have a maritime climate with cool, moist winters and mild, moist summers. Mossel Bay in the Garden Route is considered to have the second mildest climate worldwide after Hawaii.

Thunderstorms are generally rare in the province, except in the Karoo interior, with most precipitation being of a frontal or orographic nature. Extremes of heat and cold are common inland, but rare near the coast. Snow is a common winter occurrence on the higher lying ground, however frost is relatively rare in coastal areas and many of the heavily cultivated valleys.

The dependency of the Prince Edward Islands are subantarctic islands, which experience year-round cool to cold temperatures with high precipitation and little annual deviation on both accounts.

• Cape Town International Airport averages: January maximum: 26 °C (min: 16 °C), July maximum: 18 °C (min: 7 °C), annual rainfall: 515mm
  • Kirstenbosch, Cape Town annual rainfall: 1395mm
• George averages: January maximum: 25 °C (min: 15 °C), July maximum: 19 °C (min: 7 °C), annual rainfall: 715mm
• Marion Island (Prince Edward Group) averages: January maximum: 10 °C (min: 5 °C), July maximum: 6 °C (min: 1 °C), annual rainfall: 2401mm

Cities and towns[link]

The population figures quoted only include urbanised areas:

Population 1,000,000++

• Cape Town

Population 200,000+

• George
• Somerset West

Population 50,000+

Population 10,000+

Population < 10,000

Political history[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

In 1994, at the introduction of the Interim Constitution and the first non-racial election, South Africa's original provinces and bantustans were abolished and nine new provinces were established. The former Cape Province was divided into the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and part of North West.

In the 1994 election the Western Cape was one of two provinces that did not elect an African National Congress (ANC) provincial government (the other being KwaZulu-Natal). The National Party (NP) won 53% of the votes and 23 seats in the 42-seat provincial legislature, and Hernus Kriel, a former Minister of Law and Order, was elected Premier. He resigned in 1998 and was replaced by Gerald Morkel.

The 1999 election marked the beginning of a period of great turbulence in Western Cape politics. No party achieved an absolute majority in the provincial parliament, as the ANC won 18 seats while the New National Party (NNP), successor to the NP, won 17. The NNP went into coalition with the Democratic Party (DP), which won 5 seats, to form a government, and Morkel remained Premier. In 2000 the DP and the NNP formalized their coalition by forming the Democratic Alliance (DA).

In 2001, however, the NNP broke with the DA over the removal of Peter Marais from office as Mayor of Cape Town by DA leader Tony Leon. The NNP instead went into coalition with the ANC; Gerald Morkel, who was opposed to the split, resigned as Premier and was replaced by Peter Marais. In 2002 Marais resigned as Premier due to a sexual harassment scandal, and was replaced by NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk. During the 2003 floor-crossing period four members of the provincial parliament crossed to the ANC, giving it an absolute majority of 22 seats in the 42-seat house. However, the ANC remained in coalition with the NNP and van Schalkwyk remained as Premier.

In the 2004 election there was again no absolute winner in the provincial parliament; this time the ANC won 19 seats, the DA won 12, and the NNP won 5. The ANC-NNP coalition continued in power, but van Schalkwyk took up a ministerial post in the national cabinet and was replaced as Premier by the ANC's Ebrahim Rasool. The NNP was finally dissolved after the 2005 floor-crossing period and its members joined the ANC, again giving that party an absolute majority of 24 seats. In the 2006 floor-crossing period the ANC gained a further three members of the provincial parliament. In 2008 Rasool resigned as Premier due to internal party politics, and was replaced by Lynne Brown.

The 2009 election marked a significant change in Western Cape politics, as the Democratic Alliance won 51% of the votes and an absolute majority of 22 seats in the provincial parliament, while the ANC won 14 seats with 32% of the vote. The DA leader Helen Zille was elected Premier. In 2010 the Independent Democrats, which had won 3 seats with 5% of the vote, merged with the DA.

Law and government[link]

Western Cape provincial building, Cape Town.

The capital of the Western Cape is the City of Cape Town. The Premier of the Western Cape is Helen Zille^[8] while the Director-General of the provincial administration is Virginia Petersen.^[9]

The Constitution of the Western Cape was adopted in 1998 and is published in the official languages of the province: Afrikaans, English and Xhosa.

The Western Cape Provincial Parliament is responsible for creating laws within its responsibilities as set out by the South African Constitution. Some of the issues dealt with cover agriculture, education, environment, health services, housing, language policies, tourism, trade, and welfare. It is housed in Cape Town and has a total of 42 members. The Fourth Provincial Parliament was elected in the election of 22 April 2009; 22 seats are held by the Democratic Alliance, 14 by the African National Congress, 3 by the Congress of the People, 2 by the Independent Democrats, and 1 by the African Christian Democratic Party.

Municipalities[link]

Map of the municipalities of the Western Cape

The Western Cape is made up of one metropolitan municipality, and five district municipalities subdivided into 24 local municipalities.

Economy[link]

The Western Cape's total GDP for 2008 was R268.26bn, making the province the joint second largest contributor to the country’s total GDP, at 14.3%. It also has one of the fastest growing economies in the country, growing at 4% in 2008^[10] and is expected to grow by 3.2% in 2011.^[11] At 19.7% the province has a substantially lower unemployment rate than the national average standing at 23.2% in 2009.^[12] The province's Gini coefficient of 0.63 is lower than South Africa's Gini coefficient of 0.7 making it more equal then the rest of the country^[13] whilst still being extremely high and unequal by international standards. The Western Cape's Human Development Index is the highest in South Africa at 0.7708 compared to the South African average of 0.6675 in 2003.^[14]

The biggest sector in the Western Cape's economy is the financial, business services and realestate sectors contributing approximately R77 billion in 2008. Manufacturing was the second largest contributor valued at R43.7 billion in 2008 with the agricultural sector being th fastest growing at 10.6% in the same year.^[10] High-tech industries, international call centres, fashion design, advertising and TV production are niche industries rapidly gaining in importance.^[15] The city of Cape Town is ranked as the most entrepreneurial city in South Africa with Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity being 190% greater than South Africa’s national average.^[16]

Infrastructure and communications[link]

Railway network in the Western Cape

The Western Cape has an excellent network of highways comparable with any first-world country. The primary highways are the N1 (from Cape Town to Three Sisters, continuing outside the province towards Bloemfontein and Johannesburg), N2 (from Cape Town to Bloukrans River, towards Port Elizabeth), N7 (from Cape Town to Bitterfontein, continuing towards Springbok and Namibia) and N12 (from George to Three Sisters, continuing towards Kimberley and Johannesburg). Other routes are the "R" roads which connect the smaller towns. All major roads are tarred with major rural gravel roads well maintained. Limited access motorways are limited to the Cape Metropolitan Area, Winelands and Garden Route, however due to the low population density of the remainder of the province, the highways remain efficient and high-speed, except during peak holiday travel seasons, when travel can be slow-going in places due to heavy traffic.^{[citation needed]}

Telecommunications in the province are highly sophisticated. Landline telephones are available extensively, and the majority of large urban nodes have access to ADSL and other high-speed internet services.^{[citation needed]} Mobile cellular networks are world-class, with reception extending from cities to highways and many remote rural areas.^{[citation needed]} Mobile networks also play an important role in the internet space due to their speed and widespread availability. Major cities and towns have access to mobile internet speeds in excess of 21 Mbit/s (HSDPA+). In areas where HSDPA+ is not available, networks make provisions for HSDPA, 3G, EDGE or finally GPRS if demand does not warrant higher speed investment.^{[citation needed]}

Demographics[link]

The 2001 Census recorded the population of the Western Cape as 4,524,335 people living in 1,173,304 households.^[17] As the province covers an area of 129,462 square kilometres (49,986 sq mi),^[18] the population density was 34.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (90 /sq mi) and the household density 9.1 per square kilometre (24 /sq mi).

The Community Survey 2007 determined the population of the province to be 5,278,585 people living in 1,369,180 households,^[19] giving a population density of 40.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (106 /sq mi) and a household density of 10.6 per square kilometre (27 /sq mi). The 2011 mid-year population estimate for the province is 5,287,863.^[20]

The majority, 50.2%, of the people of the Western Cape described themselves as "Coloured", while 30.1% described themselves as "Black African", 18.4% as "White", and 1.3% as "Indian or Asian".^[21] Afrikaans is the majority language, spoken as the first language of 55.3% of the province's population. IsiXhosa is the first language of 23.7% of the population, while English is the first language of 19.3%.^[22]

Afrikaans is the dominant language of the coloured population, being spoken as the first language of 81.0%, while English is spoken by 18.6%. White people are more evenly divided between Afrikaans- and English-speaking, at 55.4% and 43.2% respectively, while 1.2% of whites speak a foreign language. 88.6% of black people in the province speak isiXhosa as a first language, while 4.5% speak Afrikaans, 2.6% speak Sesotho, and 2.1% speak English.^[22]

Age distribution in the province is spread out, with 27.3% under the age of 15, 19.4% from 15 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 15.2% from 45 to 64, and 5.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 26 years. For every 100 females there are 94.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.3 males.

81.9% of the province's residents are Christian; large denominations include the Dutch Reformed Church at 15.1%, the Anglican Church at 8.5%, the Methodist Church at 6.7%, and the Catholic Church at 5.4%. 22.5% of the population are affiliated with a Pentecostal, Charismatic or Apostolic church. 9.0% of the population have no religion, 6.5% are Muslim, 0.4% are Jewish, and 0.2% are Hindu.^[23]

5.7% of residents aged 20 and over have received no schooling, 15.2% have had some primary, 7.9% have completed only primary school, 36.5% have had some high education, 23.4% have finished only high school, and 11.2% have an education higher than the high school level. Overall, 34.6% of residents have completed high school.

63.1% of housing units have a telephone and/or cell-phone in the dwelling, 34.2% have access to a phone nearby, and 2.7% have access that is not nearby or no access. 86.5% of households have a flush or chemical toilet. 87.8% have refuse removed by the municipality at least once a week and 1.4% have no rubbish disposal. 67.5% have running water inside their dwelling, 85.2% have running water on their property, and 98.3% have access to running water. 78.8% of households use electricity for cooking, 73.4% for heating, and 88.0% for lighting. 79.1% of households have a radio, 74.1% have a television, 18.2% own a computer, 73.5% have a refrigerator, and 41.4% have a cell-phone.

17.1% of the population aged 15–65 is unemployed. Of the unemployed persons, 53.4% are Black, 43.0% are Coloured, 0.4% are Indian/Asian, and 3.2% are White. 23.3% of Black are unemployed, 9.3% of Coloureds, 5.0% of Indians/Asians, and 2.0% of Whites.

The median annual income of working adults aged 15–65 in the Western Cape is R 18,703. Males have a median annual income of R 21,048 versus R 17,035 for females. The median annual income by race is R 12,213 for Blacks, R 16,354 for Coloureds, R 42,803 for Indians/Asians, and R 64,968 for Whites.

Education[link]

The University of Cape Town

The Western Cape is the most highly educated province with a very skilled workforce in comparison to any other African region.^[25] The high school graduation rate is consistently around 80%, higher than any other province. The proportion of adults with a degree or higher was 4.8% (2005),^[15] the highest in the country.

The province also boasts three internationally acclaimed universities, namely the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University and the University of the Western Cape.

• Universities
  • Stellenbosch University
  • University of Cape Town
  • University of the Western Cape
  • Cape Peninsula University of Technology
• Other Educational Institutions
  • South African Military Academy

References[link]

• Municipal Demarcation Board

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Western Cape

• Provincial Government of the Western Cape
• Western Cape Tourism
• Western Cape Investment and Trade Promotion Agency

v t e Province of the Western Cape Cape Town (capital) Topics Climate · Ecology · Economy · Government · Politics Government Premier · Provincial Parliament · High Court · Municipalities Regions Cape Peninsula · Cape Flats · Boland · Swartland · West Coast · Breede River Valley · Overberg · Garden Route · Little Karoo · Great Karoo Cities and major towns Cape Town · Paarl · George · Worcester · Somerset West · Atlantis · Strand · Stellenbosch · Oudtshoorn · Wellington · Knysna · Mossel Bay · Vredenburg · Beaufort West · Saldanha · Grabouw · Malmesbury · Robertson · Vredendal · Swellendam · Bredasdorp · Riversdale · Ashton · Caledon · Hermanus · Montagu · Ceres · Piketberg · Plettenberg Bay

v t e Administrative divisions of South Africa Capitals: Pretoria (executive); Bloemfontein (judicial); Cape Town (legislative) Provinces Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga North West Northern Cape Western Cape Municipalities Metropolitan Buffalo City (East London) Cape Town Ekurhuleni (East Rand) eThekwini (Durban) Johannesburg Mangaung (Bloemfontein) Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth) Tshwane (Pretoria) District Municipalities of the Eastern Cape of the Free State of Gauteng of KwaZulu-Natal of Limpopo of Mpumalanga of the North West of the Northern Cape of the Western Cape Full list Local Municipalities Full List Settlements in the Eastern Cape in the Free State in Gauteng in KwaZulu-Natal in Limpopo in Mpumalanga in the North West in the Northern Cape in the Western Cape

Coordinates: 34°S 20°E / 34°S 20°E / -34; 20