The municipality covers an area of between the Indian Ocean and the Tsitsikamma Mountains around the town of Plettenberg Bay. It is the easternmost municipality on the coast of the Western Cape, with its eastern edge at the Bloukrans River forming the border with the Eastern Cape. It abuts on the Knysna Municipality to the west, the George Municipality to the northwest, and the Kou-Kamma Municipality to the east. According to the 2011 census the municipality has a population of 49,162 people in 16,645 households. Of this population, 45.2% describe themselves as "Black African", 31.2% as "Coloured", and 16.9% as "White". The first language of 43.4% of the population is Afrikaans, while 38.0% speak Xhosa and 13.3% speak English. A majority of residents of the municipality live in the town of Plettenberg Bay, which in 2011 had a population of 31,804. On the other side of the Keurbooms River mouth from Plettenberg Bay is the coastal resort of Keurboomstrand, while the resort of Nature's Valley is situated further east at the mouth of the Groot River. The Griqua settlement of Kranshoek is situated west of Plettenberg Bay. In the interior of the municipality are villages at Kurland and Wittedrif.
Politics
The municipal council consists of thirteen members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Seven councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in seven wards, while the remaining six are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 18 May 2011 no party obtained a majority; the Democratic Alliance and the African National Congress won six seats each, with the remaining seat going to the Congress of the People. The DA and COPE formed a coalition to govern the municipality. The DA won a ward from the ANC in a by-election held in 2014, and governed Bitou alone with an outright majority of seats on the council. A hung council was elected following the 2016 municipal elections, with the DA and ANC each winning six seats, and the final seat going to the Active United Front. The AUF chose to join forces with the ANC. However, six months later, in April 2017, the AUF announced that the partnership had fallen apart because the ANC had frustrated attempts to establish clean administration, had failed to commit resources to address problems, had not implemented the coalition agreement, and had not signed the agreed-upon service delivery plan. The DA and AUF negotiated for a month, following which the DA gained control of the municipality. The following table shows the results of the 2016 election. The local council sends two representatives to the council of the Garden RouteDistrict Municipality. this delegation consisted of one councillor from the Democratic Alliance and one from the African National Congress.
