South Africa: Women and local government: By the numbers (continued)
Category C: district councils
District councils comprise the fewest number of overall seats of any type of council in South Africa and are elected on the basis of party lists. District councils are established on the basis of 40% of the seats elected from party lists and 60% appointed from local councils.
Women comprised 29% of district council candidates, or 671 out of 2 297 in total (in addition, 30 women contested DMA seats out of a total of 134). Therefore, a total of 691 women challenged in district councils and DMAs, with 31.1% of these women candidates winning seats.
Overall, the representation of women in district councils is consistent with the patterns for local and metropolitan councils. The overall share of women on district councils is 29.4% - a level of representation that can largely be credited to the electoral system, ANC's internal party quota and the prescription of the Municipal Structures Act.
Women performed least well in the one district council in Gauteng, receiving only 11.4% of the seats. Women in the Western Cape also had a poorer showing, winning 16.6% of the seats on the province's five district councils. All other provinces with the exception of KwaZulu-Natal where women won 27.3% of seats reflected a share greater than 30%. The highest share of district council seats for women is in Northern Province, where women hold 41.7% of the seats and the highest number of seats, at 30 in total.
Table 9: Category C municipality (district councils) PR election of women and men by province
| District Councils (# of district councils) | Women (% of total elected DC seats) | Men | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Cape (6) | 40 DC (38.8%) | 60 DC, 3 DMA | 103 |
| Free State (5) | 22 DC (36.1%) | 39 DC | 61 |
| Gauteng (1) | 6 DC, 10 CBDC (11.4%) | 113 DC, 12 CBDC | 141 |
| KwaZulu-Natal (10) | 34 DC, 1 DMA (27.3%) | 88 DC, 5 DMA | 128 |
| Mpumalanga (3) | 19 DC, 7 CBDC (37.1%) | 34 DC, 10 CBDC | 70 |
| North West (4) | 24 DC, 1 DMA (37.8%) | 36 DC, 5 DMA | 66 |
| Northern Cape (4) | 9 DC, 3 CBDC (32.4%) | 21 DC, 4 CBDC | 37 |
| Northern Province (4) | 25 DC, 5 CBDC (41.7%) | 36 DC, 6 CBDC | 72 |
| Western Cape (5) | 9 DC (16.6%) | 40 DC, 5 DMA | 54 |
| Sub-total (41) | 188 DC, 25 CBDC, 2 DMA | 467 DC, 32 CBDC 18 DMA | 655 DC 57 CBDC 20 DMA |
| Total | 215 (29.4%) | 517 | 732 |
Source: Adapted from IEC, 2001.
This table includes district councils (DC), cross-border district councils (CBDC) and district management areas (DMA).