Kouga Local Municipality (KLM) is located in the Sarah Baartman District in the province of the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
It is situated west of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and stretches over a geographical area of 2 419km². It includes the nine towns of Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp, St Francis Bay, Cape St Francis, Oyster Bay, Hankey, Patensie, Loerie, and Thornhill, as well as various smaller settlements and agricultural nodes.
Kouga is home to an estimated 107 014 residents (Census 2022).
Afrikaans is the most-spoken language, with a total of 54 767 (58.4%) mother-tongue speakers. IsiXhosa is the second biggest home language, with a total of 29 502 (29.9%) speakers, and English the third biggest, with 6 331 (6.1%) mother-tongue speakers.
While the region has traditionally been characterized by economic activities largely focused on tourism and agriculture, the area has been positioning itself as one of the energy hubs of South Africa. Various wind farms are already in operation (with more to follow), while several renewable energy projects are in the pipeline (including solar and biomass).
Our municipality is founded to serve the residents of Kouga. Through our individual and collective efforts, and enabled by a capable government, the residents hold the power to make our municipality a shining beacon for South Africa.
Our government is accountable to the people. Our purpose is to enable the residents to use their freedoms by providing basic services in an excellent fashion. We have no power except that which is assigned to us by the residents. Our government reflects the will of the people, and our elected representatives is held directly accountable to them.
I believe Kouga Municipality is a blueprint of what a flourishing South African can look like. A region filled with diversity and an abundance of opportunity. We can however only achieve our goals through a whole-of-society approach, we therefore stand with the hardworking, freedom-loving residents who want to live and raise their families in safe communities, support each other, work hard, play by the rules, reap the rewards for their efforts and build a Municipality where all residents, regardless of their backgrounds, make progress together.
