The sparsely populated northern area, including Bitterfontein/Nuwerus and Rietpoort, became a District Management Area of the West Coast District Municipality. In 2011 this area was incorporated into the Matzikama Municipality when District Management Areas were abolished. Politics The municipal council consists of fifteen members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Eight councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in eight wards, while the remaining seven 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 the Democratic Alliance (DA) won a plurality of seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the 2021 election. In August 2020, the Hawks began investigating corruption in the municipality. In August 2021, the Matzikama Local Municipality was flagged as one of the four Western Cape municipalities owing millions of rands to Eskom By-elections from November 2021 The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since November 2021. After the by-election, the council was reconfigured as below: References External links Official website Matzikama Local Municipality on the Western Cape Government website Local municipalities of the West Coast District Municipality Matzikama Local Municipality