Sarah Baartman
old: Cacadu | |
|---|---|
 Seal | |
.svg) Location in the Eastern Cape | |
| Coordinates: 33°57′S 25°36′E / 33.950°S 25.600°E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Eastern Cape |
| District | Sarah Baartman District Municipality |
| Seat | Gqeberha |
| Local municipalities | |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipal council |
| • Mayor | Khunjuzwa Eunice Kekana (ANC) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 58,194 km2 (22,469 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[2] | |
| • Total | 450,584 |
| • Density | 7.7/km2 (20/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • African | 53.3% |
| • Coloured | 34.9% |
| • Indian/Asian | 0.3% |
| • White | 10.9% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Xhosa | 45.4% |
| • Afrikaans | 45.1% |
| • English | 6.5% |
| • Other | 3% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Municipal code | DC10 |
The Sarah Baartman District Municipality (Xhosa: uMasipala weSithili sase Sarah Baartman; Afrikaans: Sarah Baartman-distriksmunisipaliteit), formerly the Cacadu District Municipality, is situated in the western part of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, covering an area of 58,242 square kilometres. The area of the district municipality includes seven local municipalities. The seat is the city of Gqeberha, although Gqeberha is not itself in the district (it is in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality). As of 2011, the languages most spoken among the 388,201 inhabitants were Xhosa and Afrikaans. The district code is DC10.
The municipality is a multi-ethnic administration, formed by the African National Congress government through the merging of the predominantly Afrikaans-speaking western part of the Eastern Cape, together with Xhosa areas near the Fish River, and the English district of Albany (with its own distinctive local culture, dating back to the 1820 settlers).
The name Cacadu is regarded by the Xhosa as covering the entire area of the district municipality, but in fact it is taken from a river that runs entirely in Gqeberha. Cacadu, meaning "bulrush water", is the Xhosa form of the Khoekhoe name of the river. The Dutch name is a translation: Papenkuils (in Afrikaans a bulrush is called a papkuil). The river rises in the Parsons Vlei and runs to the sea close to the Gqeberha industrial suburb of Deal Party.
In 2015, the municipality was renamed for Saartjie "Sarah" Baartman (1789–1815), a Khoekhoe woman who was taken to London to perform at freak shows and after her death her remains were exhibited until 1974. The renaming is part of an effort to redress marginalisation of the Khoekhoe people.[3]
- ^ "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
- ^ a b c "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
- ^ "E Cape municipality named after Sarah Baartman". SABC. 24 September 2015. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.