South Africa: Women and local government: By the numbers (continued)
Category B: local councils
The overall rate of representation for women in local councils is 27.4%, slightly lower than in metropolitan councils. Similarly, women have won more seats in local councils on the basis of the party list ballot than in ward elections.
The average share of women in ward seats for local councils is 16.6%. There were 3 933 women candidates for local councils with wards, 34% of candidates. In the end, a total of 535 women won ward seats, which represents 13.6% of women ward candidates.
KwaZulu-Natal (13%) and Northern Province (13.1%) offer women the lowest share of local council ward seats, while North West (19.2%) and Northern Cape (23.1%) the highest. The largest number of absolute local council ward seats held by women is in Eastern Cape (89) and KwaZulu-Natal (84). Both provinces have a very high number of local councils. Women performed slightly worse in local council wards than in metropolitan councils.
As to be expected, women once again performed better in the party list seats, winning 38.4% overall. Women won their highest share of seats in Gauteng (42.9%) and the lowest in Western Cape (34.2%) and KwaZulu-Natal (34.9%). In terms of national patterns of party support this outcome is predictable, given that ANC levels of support were lowest in these two provinces and it is the party that makes the greatest efforts to ensure that women appear on its party lists. Nevertheless, despite party differences, the fact that women in local councils in all provinces have achieved substantially over 30% representation remains a mark of success. However, women in party list seats for local council, (38.4%) performed slightly worse than in metro list seats (40.9%).
Table 8: Category B municipality (local councils) women and men elected by province
| Province | Women ward(% of total ward) | Men ward | Total ward | Women PR list(% of total PR list seats) | Men PR list | Total PR list | Total women(% of total seats) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Cape | 89 16.3% | 459 | 546 | 203 LC 37.2% | 342 LC | 545 | 292 26.7% | 1 093 |
| Free State | 51 17.5% | 240 | 291 | 105 LC 38.7% | 166 LC | 271 | 156 27.8% | 562 |
| Gauteng | 32 18.3% | 141 | 175 | 58 LC 14 CBLC 42.9% | 73 LC 23 CBLC | 168 | 104 30.5% | 341 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 84 13.0% | 561 | 645 | 221 LC 34.9% | 411 LC | 632 | 305 23.9% | 1 277 |
| Mpumalanga | 63 15.7% | 338 | 401 | 131 LC 30 CBLC 41.2% | 192 LC 39 CBLC | 392 | 224 28.2% | 793 |
| North West | 77 19.2% | 249 | 326 | 131 LC 40.7% | 191 LC | 322 | 206 32.1% | 648 |
| Northern Cape | 39 23.1% | 130 | 169 | 65 LC 7 CBLC 43.9% | 81 LC 11 CBLC | 164 | 111 33.3% | 333 |
| Northern Province | 57 13.1% | 379 | 436 | 154 LC 11 CBLC 38.7% | 237 LC 24 CBLC | 426 | 222 25.8% | 862 |
| Western Cape | 43 18.8% | 186 | 229 | 78 LC 34.2% | 150 | 228 | 91 19.9% | 457 |
| Total | 535 16.6% | 2 683 | 3 218 | 1 208 38.4% | 1 940 | 3 148 | 1 745 27.4% | 6366 |
Source: Adapted from IEC, 2001.