About

The name Nama Khoi means people first. In the past, before South Africa became a democratic republic, there was one Municipality Council, known as Springbok Municipality, which was regulated out of Ordinance 20 of 1974. Three Boards which included the towns of Steinkopft, Kommagas and Concordia were regulated according to Act 9 of 1987. There was also the Representative Council consisting of the old mining towns and other areas that were part of the so called Divisional Council.

All these boards dissolved and one Council, namely Nama Khoi Municipality, was established. The establishment took place on the 5th of December 2000 after a local election was held.  The new Municipal Council was established and consists of nine wards.

The jurisdiction comprised out of Springbok (where the main seat is currently), O’kiep, Carolusberg, Nababeep, Concordia, Vioolsdrift, Goodhouse, Bulletrap, Kommagas, Buffelsrivier and Kleinzee (it also is a private mining town). Rooiwal, another village, was later included in ward 3 of the Municipality after the community send a request to the Demarcation Board and negotiations between the two neighboring municipalities, namely Nama Khoi and Richtersveld, were concluded.

The Nama Khoi Municipality was graded as a Grade 2 or B graded municipality. The municipal council consists of seventeen Councilors of which 10 represented the African National Congress and 7 Councilors were members of the former New National Party. The Council had an Executive Committee consisting out of 5 Councilors (3 ANC members and 2 members from the NNP). During the overflow period, a board member of the NNP defected to the ANC and one has retained his seat but was independent. Two were members of the Democratic Alliance (DA).  The remaining members joined a newly formed party known as the Independent Democrats (ID).

In addition, the Council has a Mayor who had no executive powers and had a Speaker who is also the Chairman of the Board. The Council consists of five committees, i.e. the Executive Committee, Financial Committee (the Committee which dealt with financial affairs), Reconstruction and Development Committee (which dealt with all development issues such as land alienation), Administration Committee (which dealt with issues such as administrative work and labour relationships) and Economic or LED (that had to do with the economic development). The council was administratively managed by the Municipal Manager and politically by the whip of each party, but administratively by the Mayor and the Speaker respectively.

Nama Khoi is a Governmental Organization that is utilizing the Municipal Systems Structures Act section 56 as a guideline.  The above-mentioned section stipulates that a mayor must oversee the whole community and the mayor must have a council that helps him. Then there is the Municipal Manager that manages all the different departments within the municipality.

Location:

The head office of Nama Khoi Municipality is located in Springbok. Nama Khoi Municipality has nine (9) municipal wards:

Ward 1: Steinkopf South and Bulletrap

Ward 2: Steinkopf  North

Ward 3: Concordia, Goodhouse, Henkries, Vioolsdrift, and Rooiwal

Ward 4: Nababeep

Ward 5: Matjieskloof, Kleinzee

Ward 6: Komaggas, Buffelsrivier

Ward 7: O’kiep

Ward 8: Carolusberg, Springbok, Fonteintjie, and a part of Bergsig

Ward 9: Vaalwater and a part Bergsig

The Nama Khoi Municipality is the largest Municipality in the Namakwa District Municipality.  It serves a community of ± 54 000 people.

Springbok is the most densely populated area, close to the N7 and also functions as the sub-regional centre for administrative, commercial and higher order social facilities.  The rural settlements in the municipal area are largely mono-functional rural settlement areas with a poor economic base and depend primarily on the surrounding agricultural resource base to drive the limited economy.