At the end of the
apartheid era, the area that is today the Mossel Bay Municipality formed part of the South Cape Regional Services Council (RSC). The towns of
Mossel Bay,
Hartenbos,
Great Brak River and
Herbertsdale were governed by municipal councils elected by their
white residents. The
coloured residents of
D'Almeida (Mossel Bay) and Great Brak River were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils.
Kwanonqaba was governed by a town council established under the
Black Local Authorities Act, 1982. The smaller coastal resorts were governed by local councils: a council for
Boggomsbaai, a council covering
Little Brak River,
Reebok and
Tergniet, and another council named Gleniqua covering
Glentana,
Outeniquastrand and
Bothastrand. The former missionary settlement of
Friemersheim was governed by a board of management. While the
negotiations to end apartheid were taking place a process was established for local authorities to agree on voluntary mergers. In March 1992, the Municipality of Great Brak River, the Great Brak River Management Committee and the Gleniqua Local Council merged into a single Municipality for the Area of Great Brak River. After the
national elections of 1994 a process of local government transformation began, in which negotiations were held between the existing local authorities, political parties, and local community organisations. As a result of these negotiations, the existing local authorities were dissolved and transitional local councils (TLCs) were created for each town and village. The smaller seaside resorts were also combined with larger towns. • Herbertsdale TLC replaced the Municipality of Herbertsdale in December 1994. • Friemersheim TLC replaced the Friemersheim Management Board in January 1995. • Mossel Bay TLC replaced the Municipalities of Mossel Bay and Hartenbos, the D'Almeida Management Committee, the Kwanonqaba Town Council, the Boggomsbaai Local Council, and the Klein Brak River, Reebok and Tergniet Local Council in February 1995. • Great Brak River TLC replaced the Municipality for the Area of Great Brak River in February 1995. The transitional councils were initially made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when
elections were held. At the time of these elections the South Cape District Council was established in place of the South Cape RSC, and transitional representative councils (TRCs) were elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the District Council. The area that was to become Mossel Bay Municipality included the Mossel Bay TRC and a small part of the Outeniqua TRC. At the
local elections of December 2000 the TLCs and TRCs were dissolved and the Mossel Bay Municipality was established as a single local authority. At the same election the South Cape District Council was dissolved and replaced by the
Eden District Municipality. == Politics ==