Districts of South Africa

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The nine provinces of South Africa are divided into 52 districts (sing. district, ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ), which are either metropolitan or district municipalities. They are the second level of administrative division, below the provinces and (in the case of district municipalities) above the local municipalities. As a consequence of the 12th amendment of the Constitution in December 2005, which altered provincial boundaries, the number of districts was reduced from 53. Another effect of the amendment is that each district is now completely contained within a single province, thus eliminating cross border districts. The districts also cover the entire area of the continental republic.

There are two types of municipality at the district level. Most of the country is covered by the 44 district municipalities, which are divided into local municipalities and share responsibilities with them. The eight largest urban agglomerations are governed by metropolitan municipalities, which act as both local and district municipalities.

A district municipality or Category C municipality is a municipality which executes some of the functions of local government for a district. The district municipality will in turn comprise several local municipalities, with which it shares the functions of local government. Although the word county is not used in legislation, district municipalities are regularly referred to as such informally. District municipalities are seen as successors to former Regional Services Councils (RSC). The Constitution, section 155.1. a, defines "Category C" municipalities. The Municipal Structures Act states that areas not eligible to have a metropolitan municipality must have a district municipality. District municipalities have a municipality code that consists of the letters "DC" followed by a number from 1 to 48. The "DC" reflects the term for the elected political executive "District Councils".

Currently all district municipalities are completely divided into local municipalities. However, before the alteration of municipal boundaries which occurred at the 2011 elections, some areas of the country did not fall within any local municipality. This usually occurred in areas with a very low population density, for example national parks and nature reserves. In these areas, which were known as District Management Areas, all local government services were provided by the district municipality.

The following map depicts the provinces and districts of South Africa. The district municipalities are labelled with numbers that correspond to their district code, while the metropolitan municipalities are labelled with letters that correspond to their names. Further details of the districts are listed in the table that follows the image. Mapkey Name Code Province Seat Area(km2) Population(2016) Pop. density(per km2) 44 Alfred Nzo District Municipality Eastern Cape Mount Ayliff 10,731 867,864 80.9 25 Amajuba District Municipality KwaZulu Natal Newcastle 7,102 531,327 74.8 12 Amathole District Municipality Eastern Cape East London 21,117 880,790 41.7 37 Bojanala Platinum District Municipality North West Rustenburg 18,333 1,657,148 90.4 B Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality Eastern Cape East London 2,750 834,997 303.6 2 Cape Winelands District Municipality Western Cape Worcester 21,473 866,001 40.3 35 Capricorn District Municipality Limpopo Polokwane 21,705 1,330,436 61.3 5 Central Karoo District Municipality Western Cape Beaufort West 38,854 74,247 1.9 13 Chris Hani District Municipality Eastern Cape Komani 36,407 840,055 23.1 C City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality Western Cape Cape Town 2,446 4,005,016 1,637.6 J City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality Gauteng Johannesburg 1,645 4,949,347 3,008.8 T City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality Gauteng Pretoria 6,298 3,275,152 520.0 40 Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality North West Klerksdorp 14,671 742,821 50.6 39 Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality North West Vryburg 43,764 459,357 10.5 32 Ehlanzeni District Municipality Mpumalanga Mbombela 27,896 1,754,931 62.9 Ek Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality Gauteng Germiston 1,975 3,379,104 1,710.6 Et eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality KwaZulu Natal Durban 2,556 3,702,231 1,448.5 20 Fezile Dabi District Municipality Free State Sasolburg 20,668 494,777 23.9 9 Frances Baard District Municipality Northern Cape Kimberley 12,836 387,741 30.2 4 Garden Route District Municipality Western Cape George 23,331 611,278 26.2 30 Gert Sibande District Municipality Mpumalanga Ermelo 31,841 1,135,409 35.7 43 Harry Gwala District Municipality KwaZulu Natal Ixopo 10,386 510,865 49.2 29 iLembe District Municipality KwaZulu Natal KwaDukuza 3,269 657,612 201.2 14 Joe Gqabi District Municipality Eastern Cape Barkly East 25,617 372,912 14.6 45 John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality Northern Cape Kuruman 27,322 242,264 8.9 28 King Cetshwayo District Municipality KwaZulu Natal Richards Bay 8,213 971,135 118.2 18 Lejweleputswa District Municipality Free State Welkom 32,287 646,920 20.0 M Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality Free State Bloemfontein 9,886 787,803 79.7 33 Mopani District Municipality Limpopo Giyani 20,011 1,159,185 57.9 6 Namakwa District Municipality Northern Cape Springbok 126,836 115,488 0.9 N Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality Eastern Cape Port Elizabeth 1,957 1,263,051 645.4 38 Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality North West Mahikeng 28,114 889,108 31.6 31 Nkangala District Municipality Mpumalanga Middelburg 16,758 1,445,624 86.3 15 OR Tambo District Municipality Eastern Cape Mthatha 12,141 1,457,384 120.0 3 Overberg District Municipality Western Cape Bredasdorp 12,239 286,786 23.4 7 Pixley ka Seme District Municipality Northern Cape De Aar 103,411 195,595 1.9 10 Sarah Baartman District Municipality Eastern Cape Port Elizabeth 58,245 479,923 8.2 42 Sedibeng District Municipality Gauteng Vereeniging 4,173 957,528 229.5 47 Sekhukhune District Municipality Limpopo Groblersdal 13,528 1,169,762 86.5 19 Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality Free State Phuthaditjhaba 32,734 779,330 23.8 21 Ugu District Municipality KwaZulu Natal Port Shepstone 4,791 753,336 157.2 22 uMgungundlovu District Municipality KwaZulu Natal Pietermaritzburg 9,602 1,095,865 114.1 27 uMkhanyakude District Municipality KwaZulu Natal Mkuze 13,855 689,090 49.7 24 uMzinyathi District Municipality KwaZulu Natal Dundee 8,652 554,882 64.1 23 uThukela District Municipality KwaZulu Natal Ladysmith 11,134 706,588 63.5 34 Vhembe District Municipality Limpopo Thohoyandou 25,596 1,393,949 54.5 36 Waterberg District Municipality Limpopo Modimolle 44,913 745,758 16.6 1 West Coast District Municipality Western Cape Moorreesburg 31,119 436,403 14.0 48 West Rand District Municipality Gauteng Randfontein 4,087 838,594 205.2 16 Xhariep District Municipality Free State Trompsburg 34,250 125,884 3.7 8 ZF Mgcawu District Municipality Northern Cape Upington 102,484 252,692 2.5 26 Zululand District Municipality KwaZulu Natal Ulundi 14,799 892,310 60.3

South Africa's official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, believes that the districts add an unnecessary fourth layer of government (between provinces and municipalities) and has called for them to be eliminated.