While the negotiations to end apartheid were taking place a process was established for local authorities to agree on voluntary mergers. The Tulbagh municipality and management committee took part in this process, merging to form a new non-racial municipality 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. Tulbagh TLC replaced the merged Tulbagh Municipality as well as the Gouda Municipality (which lies outside of the area that is now Witzenberg) in October 1994. Wolseley TLC replaced Wolseley Municipality and Wolseley Management Committee in November 1994. Ceres TLC replaced Ceres Municipality, Ceres Management Committee and Nduli Town Council in December 1994. Prince Alfred Hamlet TLC replaced Prince Alfred Hamlet Municipality in January 1995. 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 Regional Services Council. Transitional representative councils (TRCs) were also elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the District Council; the area that was to become Witzenberg Municipality included most of the Witzenberg TRC and a small part of the Matroosberg TRC. At the local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Witzenberg Municipality was established as a single local authority. Originally it only covered the western part of its current area, while the sparsely-populated Ceres-Karoo area to the east was a District Management Area. This area was incorporated into Witzenberg Municipality when District Management Areas were abolished in 2011. Politics The municipal council consists of twenty-three members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twelve councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twelve wards, while the remaining eleven are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021 no party obtained a majority of seats. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election. On 22 November 2021, the DA's Hennie Smit was elected mayor, the ANC's Johnnerey Mouton was elected speaker and Katrina Robyn of the GOOD party was