105-675: Dasklip Pass is situated in the Western Cape province of South Africa on an off-road near Porterville along the R365 highway. The road provides access to the plateau in the Groot Winterhoek mountains and the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area ; summiting at a height of 700 metres above sea level. It was privately built by farmers located on the plateau. The road was upgraded to an asphalt road in
210-665: A government, and Morkel remained Premier. In 2000 the DP and the NNP formalised their coalition by forming the Democratic Alliance (DA). In 2001, however, the NNP broke with the DA over the removal of Peter Marais from office as Mayor of Cape Town by DA leader Tony Leon . The NNP instead went into coalition with the ANC; Gerald Morkel, who was opposed to the split, resigned as Premier and
315-460: A lack of fresh water in the region meant that it has only recently been used as a harbour. The province's main harbour was built in Table Bay , which in its natural state was fully exposed to the northwesterly storms that bring rain to the province in winter, as well as the almost uninterrupted dry southeasterly winds in summer. But fresh water coming off Table Mountain and Devil's Peak allowed
420-775: A long tradition of holding liberal values. For example, the Cape Qualified Franchise before the Union of South Africa. The Cape Qualified Franchise was the system of non-racial franchise that was adhered to in the Cape Colony , and in the Cape Province in the early years of the Union of South Africa . Qualifications for the right to vote at parliamentary elections were applied equally to all men, regardless of race. This local system of multi-racial suffrage
525-707: A major earthquake , originating from movement of the northern end of the Worcester Fault. Another major (inactive) fault runs for 300 km along the southern edge of the Swartberg Mountains. The Swartberg Mountains were uplifted along this fault, to such an extent that in the Oudtshoorn region the rocks that form the base of the Cape Supergroup are exposed. These are locally known as the "Cango Group", but are probably continuous with
630-526: A maximum thickness of 2000 m, was laid down. These sandstones are very hard, and erosion resistant. They therefore form the bulk of mountains and steep cliffs and rugged crags of the Cape Fold Belt, including the upper 600 m of the 1 km high Table Mountain , below which Cape Town is situated. It contains no fossils. The Peninsula formation can be traced from 300 km north of Cape Town (i.e. about 50 km north of Vanrhynsdorp on
735-421: A maximum width of about 50 km (mostly only 15–30 km wide). Almost all of these ranges consist of hard erosion resistant Peninsula Group rocks. The valleys tend to be floored by Bokkeveld Group mudstones. A remarkable feature of these ranges is that the 1500 m high mountains (from base to crest) are cut through by very narrow, almost vertically walled defiles , not much more than 50–70 m wide at
840-644: A mountain range of immense proportions to the south of the former rift valley. The folded Cape Supergroup formed the northern foothills of this towering mountain range. The weight of the Falkland-Cape Supergroup mountains caused the continental crust of Southern Africa to sag, forming a retroarc foreland system, into which the Karoo Supergroup was deposited. Eventually much of the Cape Supergroup became buried under these Karoo deposits, only to re-emerge as mountains when upliftment of
945-556: A road cutting between Durban and Pietermaritzburg , particularly at the Marian Hill Toll Plaza. Most of the group has been deeply eroded by numerous rivers creating the ragged plateaus and scarps of the Durban-Pietermaritzburg region. With the widening and deepening of the rift valley, the entire southern portion of what was to become South Africa, as far as a line extending from Calvinia in
1050-621: A social movement for political consciousness. In December 1968, the South African Student Organization (SASO) was formed at a conference held in Marianhill, Natal. The conference was exclusively attended by Black students. After its launch, SASO became the medium through which black consciousness ideology spread to schools and other university campuses across the country. In 1974, South African Minister of Bantu Education and Development MC Botha, constituted
1155-515: A thin layer (on average only about 60 m thick ) in the Peninsula Formation rocks of the more inland mountains to the west of a line between Swellendam and Calvinia . These diamictite rocks are composed of finely ground mud, containing a jumble of faceted pebbles. They can easily be recognized at a distance as this formation readily erodes into fertile, gently sloping, green swaths in a landscape where this contrasts starkly with
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#17327930457341260-553: A variety of brachiopods , as well as trilobites , molluscs , echinoderms (including starfish , crinoids , and the extinct blastoids and cystoids ), foraminifera and fish with jaws ( placoderms ). The upper layers of the Bokkeveld Group become increasingly more sandy, grading into the sandstone of the Witteberg Group , named for the range of mountains to the south of Matjiesfontein and Laingsburg in
1365-428: Is a province of South Africa , situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of 129,449 square kilometres (49,981 sq mi), and the third most populous , with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020. About two-thirds of these inhabitants live in the metropolitan area of Cape Town , which is also the provincial capital. The Western Cape
1470-551: Is attested to by the fact that the 1 km high Table Mountain on the Cape Peninsula is a syncline mountain , meaning that it formed part of the bottom of a valley when the Cape Supergroup was initially folded. The anticline , or highest elevation of the fold between Table Mountain and the Hottentots-Holland Mountains (1.2 to 1.6 km elevation), on the opposite side of the isthmus connecting
1575-614: Is bordered on the north by the Northern Cape and on the east by the Eastern Cape . The total land area of the province is 129,462 square kilometres (49,986 sq mi), about 10.6% of the country's total. It is roughly the size of England or the State of Louisiana . Its capital city and largest city is Cape Town , and some other major cities include Stellenbosch , Worcester , Paarl , and George . The Garden Route and
1680-560: Is dominated by Karoo drought-resistant shrubbery . The West Coast and Little Karoo are semi-arid regions and are typified by many species of succulents and drought-resistant shrubs and acacia trees. The Garden Route on the south coast (between the Outeniqua Mountains and the Southern Indian Ocean ) is extremely lush, with temperate rainforest (or Afromontane Forest ) covering many areas adjacent to
1785-522: Is truncated by the overlying Dwyka sediments of glacial origin. The latter forms part of the Karoo Supergroup . Therefore, the Witteberg Group forms the uppermost layer of the Cape Supergroup. It tends to form the most inland outcrops of the Cape Supergroup, and can be traced eastwards as far as the Bokkeveld Group can be traced (i.e. to Port Alfred), about 120 km beyond the Cape Fold Belt. The Bokkeveld and Witteberg groups do not occur in
1890-413: The 2004 election , there was again no absolute winner in the provincial parliament; this time the ANC won 19 seats, the DA won 12, and the NNP won 5. The ANC-NNP coalition continued in power, but van Schalkwyk took up a ministerial post in the national cabinet and was replaced as Premier by the ANC's Ebrahim Rasool . The NNP was finally dissolved after the 2005 floor-crossing period and its members joined
1995-663: The Cape Supergroup , which is more extensive than the Fold Belt. The Supergroup is divided into several distinct Groups. The western and southern extents of the Supergroup have been folded into a series of longitudinal mountain ranges, by the collision of the Falkland Plateau into what would later become South Africa (see diagrams on the left). However, the entire suite in this region slopes downwards towards
2100-723: The Cape Town City Bowl and Table Bay. The Pakhuis Formation is also well exposed on the road along Michell's Pass just below the Tolhuis, and especially on the Pakhuis Pass near Clanwilliam , from which the formation derives its name. The glaciers which formed the Pakhuis and Cederberg formations came from the north west, in the direction of the South Pole which was located in the neighborhood of Cameroon at
2205-494: The Carboniferous and early Permian periods. After closure of the rift valley, and rucking of the Cape Supergroup into a series of parallel folds, running mainly east-west (with a short section running north-south in the west, due to collision with eastward moving Patagonia), the continued subduction of the paleo-Pacific Plate beneath the Falkland Plateau and the resulting collision of the latter with Southern Africa, raised
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#17327930457342310-649: The Cederberg 200 km to the north of the Cape Peninsula , and then along the south coast as far as Port Elizabeth , 650 km to the east (see the two maps one above the other on the right). The rocks were laid down as sediments in a rift valley that developed in southern Gondwana , just south of Southern Africa, during the Cambrian - Ordovician Periods (starting about 510 million years ago, and ending about 330–350 million years ago). (See
2415-584: The Gondwana rifting when South America and the Falkland Plateau separated from Africa. Patagonia was to the west of Cape Town and the Falkland Islands were to the south during the Jurassic Period prior to separation. Most of these faults are inactive today, but on 29 September 1969 the towns of Ceres and Tulbagh , about 160 km north-east of Cape Town, were severely damaged by
2520-704: The House of Assembly in 1960. Coloured voters similarly followed in 1958 and 1970 , respectively. The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960. The BCM represented
2625-593: The Ou Kaapse Weg (road) goes up the slope from Westlake on to the Silvermine plateau. In the cutting one can also see the abrupt and obvious transition into the Peninsula Formation above it. Looking up the slope from below to the first hairpin bend, the granite basement on which the Graafwater formation rests is visible. And in the cutting at the first hairpin bend, the ocher-colored, gritty clay into which
2730-618: The Overberg are popular coastal tourism areas. The Western Cape is the southernmost region of the African continent with Cape Agulhas as its southernmost point, only 3,800 kilometres (2,400 mi) from the Antarctic coastline. The coastline varies from sandy between capes, to rocky to steep and mountainous in places. The only natural harbour is Saldanha Bay on the west coast, about 140 kilometres (90 mi) north of Cape Town. However
2835-572: The Overberg on the south coast have a maritime climate with cool, moist winters and mild, moist summers. Mossel Bay in the Garden Route is considered to have the second mildest climate worldwide after Hawaii. The La Niña phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle tends to increase rainfall in this region in the dry season (November to April). The effects of El Niño on rainfall in southern Africa differ between
2940-716: The Referendum Party , Freedom Front Plus and organisations such as the Cape Independence Advocacy Group and CapeXit, wish to bring forth the constitutional and peaceful secession of the Western Cape. Proponents claim substantial support for the idea, with CapeXit having over 800,000 signed mandates in May 2021. Additionally, a poll conducted in 2023 by Victory Research on behalf of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group claimed that 58% of
3045-544: The Tradouws Pass , Kogmanskloof, Garcia's pass, the Gourits River gorge (which does not have a road running through it), and Michell's Pass , which is, however, more V-shaped than the others, but impressive nevertheless. In addition several roads and highways crest the mountains over cols, or go through them via tunnels. A number of parallel faults still run roughly parallel with the coast, having formed during
3150-522: The University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) organised marches. Poster parades by UWC and Black Power Salute marches by UCT was broken by the police, resulting in 73 students getting arrested and detained at Victor Verster Prison , near Paarl. On 1 September 1976, the unrest spread to the city of Cape Town itself. Approximately 2000 black students from Western Cape townships, namely Langa, Nyanga and Gugulethu, matched
3255-562: The national constitution ; these responsibilities include agriculture, education, environment, health services, housing, language policies, tourism, trade, and welfare. The provincial parliament also elects the Premier of the Western Cape to lead the provincial executive. Alan Winde , a member of the DA and former Provincial Minister of Community Safety, has served as Premier since the 2019 provincial election . The Premier appoints ten members of
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3360-491: The " Malmesbury Group " that forms the base of Table Mountain on the Cape Peninsula , and similar outcrops in the Western Cape . In the Little Karoo the outcrop is composed of limestone , into which an underground stream has carved the impressively extensive Cango Caves . The following is a list of the largest individual ranges within the Cape Fold Belt include from west to east. (Translations in brackets; berg
3465-563: The "R" roads which connect the smaller towns. All major roads are tarred with major rural gravel roads well maintained. Limited access motorways are limited to the Cape Metropolitan Area, Winelands and Garden Route, however due to the low population density of the remainder of the province, the highways remain efficient and high-speed, except during peak holiday travel seasons, when travel can be slow-going in places due to heavy traffic. The 2022 South African census recorded
3570-508: The ANC, again giving that party an absolute majority of 24 seats. In the 2007 floor-crossing period the ANC gained a further three members of the provincial parliament. In 2008 Rasool resigned as Premier due to internal party politics, and was replaced by Lynne Brown . The 2009 election marked a significant change in Western Cape politics, as the Democratic Alliance won 51% of the votes and an absolute majority of 22 seats in
3675-502: The Cape Fold Belt, being made up of the local lowest (oldest) strata of the Cape Supergroup, composed predominantly of quartzitic sandstone which forms the impressive, almost vertical cliffs which characterize the mountain and the rest of the range which constitutes the backbone of the Cape Peninsula . The degree to which the original Cape Fold mountains (formed during the Carboniferous and early Permian Periods) have been eroded
3780-602: The Cape Supergroup sediments, but also the southern portions of the Dwyka and Ecca Groups of the Karoo Supergroup. By the time Gondwana broke up about 150 million years ago, the Falkland Mountains had been all but eroded away, before drifting south-westwards to their present position off the coast of southern South America , close to Cape Horn , leaving behind only the submarine Agulhas Bank along
3885-633: The Cape Town area. According to a report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the Western Cape experienced the second highest number of deaths and casualties associated with the 1976 uprising protests. In 1994, at the introduction of the Interim Constitution and the first non-racial election , South Africa's original provinces and bantustans were abolished and nine new provinces were established. The former Cape Province
3990-463: The Cape Town central business district (CBD). Coloured students also contributed to the protests by peacefully marching to the city, but were blockaded by the police in the CBD. The protests turned violent when coloured students started burning schools, libraries and a magistrate's court in support of the student revolt. Thereafter, 200,000 coloured workers partook in a two-day strike staying away from work in
4095-526: The Fold Belt into the Eastern Cape and northern KwaZulu-Natal , where no folding took place. The initial sedimentation into the rift valley which developed in southern Gondwana (see diagram at top left) was confined to the western and eastern ends of the rift. Rivers diverted into these early rifts deposited sand and gravel to form the Klipheuwel Group in the west, and the Natal Group in
4200-522: The Karoo's Ecca Group . During these Ecca times continued collision of the Falkland Plateau into Southern Africa, and subduction of oceanic crust under the plateau caused the formation of a range of mountains of Himalayan proportions to the south of South Africa. The Cape Fold Mountains became fully formed during this period to become the northern foothills of this enormous mountain range. The folding that occurred during this period therefore involved not only
4305-477: The Peninsula Formation sediments, the western portion of the region was covered for a geologically brief period by glaciers. The diamictite sediments that were laid down by these glaciers, or in glacial lakes, are known as the Pakhuis and Cederberg Formations . A small patch of Pakhuis tillite occurs on the top of Table Mountain at Maclear's Beacon , but most of the Pakhuis and Cederberg Formations are found as
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4410-765: The Peninsula to the Mainland, has been eroded away. The Malmesbury shale and granite basement on which this anticline mountain rested also formed an anticline; but being composed of much softer rocks, readily eroded into a 50 km wide flat plain, (now covered with dune sands) called the "Cape Flats". The Cape Fold Belt (i.e. the mountain ranges) extends from about Clanwilliam (approximately 200 km north of Cape Town), to about Port Elizabeth (approximately 650 km east of Cape Town). The Cape Supergroup sediments beyond these points are not folded into mountain ranges, but do, in places, form steep cliffs or gorges, where
4515-637: The Province's most inland boundary. The escarpment marks the southwestern edge of South Africa's central plateau (see the middle and bottom diagrams on the left). It runs parallel to the entire South African coastline, except in the very far northeast, where it is interrupted by the Limpopo River valley, and in the far northwest, where it is interrupted by the Orange River valley. The 1,000-kilometre-long (620 mi) northeastern stretch of
4620-509: The Provincial Treasury. Politically, the Western Cape is a stronghold for the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA has won an absolute majority of the vote in the province in every national, provincial, and municipal election since 2009 . The Western Cape Province is divided into one metropolitan municipality and five district municipalities . The district municipalities are in turn divided into 24 local municipalities . In
4725-594: The West Coast), southwards to Cape Town and then eastwards to northern KwaZulu-Natal , a total distance of approximately 1800 km, roughly along the South African coastline. Only the section between Clanwilliam (approximately 200 km north of Cape Town) and Port Elizabeth (approximately 650 km east of Cape Town) is folded into the Cape Fold Mountains. During the laying down of
4830-803: The Western Cape's GDP. 95% of wine produced in South Africa is produced in the Western Cape. South Africa is the 7th largest wine producing region in the world. The Western Cape has an excellent network of highways comparable with any first-world country. The primary highways are the N1 (from Cape Town to Three Sisters , continuing outside the province towards Bloemfontein and Johannesburg ), N2 (from Cape Town to Bloukrans River, towards Port Elizabeth ), N7 (from Cape Town to Bitterfontein, continuing towards Springbok and Namibia ), N9 (from George to Uniondale, continuing towards Graaff-Reinet and Colesberg ) and N12 (from George to Three Sisters, continuing towards Kimberley and Johannesburg). Other routes are
4935-482: The Western Cape's registered voters would support independence, while 68% would support a referendum on the issue. The provincial government is established under the Constitution of the Western Cape , which was adopted in 1998. The people of the province elect the 42-member Western Cape Provincial Parliament every five years by a system of party-list proportional representation . The sixth provincial parliament
5040-421: The Worcester-Robertson valley in the middle of the Fold Belt. Although the Dwyka and Ecca sediments adjoining the Cape Fold Mountains were subjected to the same compression forces that gave rise to the Cape Mountains, they do not form the same mountain ranges as do the Cape Fold Mountains. This is because they are composed of much softer rocks than the Peninsula Formation Sandstone, and were thus soon eroded into
5145-418: The bare rocky surfaces of the quartzites above and below. In several locations the quartzites below the glacial horizon have been rucked into a series of folds. This is believed to have been caused by the movement of ice ploughing into the underlying unconsolidated sands. A good example of this can be seen on a ridge of rocks near Maclear 's Beacon on Table Mountain, close to the edge of the plateau overlooking
5250-449: The biggest sector in the Western Cape's economy is the financial, business services and real estate sector, which constitutes 33.55% of gross value added, followed by manufacturing at 14.26% and wholesale and retail trade, hotels, and restaurants at 13.67%. High-tech industries, international call centres, fashion design, advertising and TV production are niche industries rapidly gaining in importance. Cape Town accounts for roughly 73% of
5355-446: The bottom, through which rivers flow from the inland Great Escarpment to the sea. It is from within these narrow defiles, many of which can be traveled by road, that one is afforded a cross sectional view of the mountains, and can appreciate their intense folding and distortion (see the photographs on the top right above). Their origin is as follows: After the fold mountains had been formed they became buried under sediments derived from
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#17327930457345460-484: The coast, in the deep river valleys and along the southern slopes of the Outeniqua mountain range. Typical species are hardwoods of exceptional height, such as Yellowwood , Stinkwood and Ironwood trees. The Western Cape is climatologically diverse, with many distinct micro- and macroclimates created by the varied topography and the influence of the surrounding ocean currents. These are the warm Agulhas Current which flows southwards along South Africa's east coast, and
5565-511: The cold Benguela Current which is an upwelling current from the depths of the South Atlantic Ocean along South Africa's west coast. Thus climatic statistics can vary greatly over short distances. Most of the province is considered to have a Mediterranean climate with cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Both the Great Karoo and Little Karoo , in the interior, have an arid to semi-arid climate with cold, frosty winters and hot summers with occasional thunderstorms . The Garden Route and
5670-496: The depression that had been the Agulhas Sea, and rucking the Cape Supergroup sediments into folds running roughly parallel to what would ultimately become the south-western and southern coastlines of South Africa. This mountain building continued into the next phase of the Karoo sedimentation, which began about 260 million years ago, after the ice sheets had melted, leaving a large lake (the Karoo Sea) extending over much of South Africa. The resulting marine or lacustrine deposits form
5775-462: The early 2000s. The road is noted for both its views of the Swartland plains below and as a popular launch site for hang gliders. During the 2015 Western Cape fire season a fire fighter died when his vehicle veered off the pass. This Western Cape location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Western Cape The Western Cape ( Afrikaans : Wes-Kaap [ˈvɛskɑːp] ; Xhosa : iNtshona-Koloni )
5880-451: The early Devonian Period) there was further subsidence of the rift valley floor. This brought about the deposition of deeper-water, fine grained sediments of the Bokkeveld Group . This is in marked contrast to the predominantly sandy sediments of the Table Mountain Group. The Bokkeveld Group consists predominantly mudstones. After the Cape Supergroup had been folded into the Cape Fold Mountains, these soft mudstones readily washed away from
5985-489: The early European settlers to build Cape Town on the shores of this less than satisfactory anchorage. The province is topographically exceptionally diverse. Most of the province falls within the Cape Fold Belt , a set of nearly parallel ranges of sandstone folded mountains of Cambrian - Ordovician age (the age of the rocks is from 510 to about 330 million years ago; their folding into mountains occurred about 350 to about 270 million years ago). The height of
6090-436: The east. These formations contain no fossils. Today the Klipheuwel Group is exposed in several small patches near Lamberts Bay, Piketberg, and to the south-west of Paarl Rock . The Natal Group, which is similar to the Table Mountain Group (see below), is found in several elongated patches near the coast of the northern Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal . It forms the impressive cliffs of Oribi Gorge , and can also be seen in
6195-447: The ebb and flow of tidal currents, as well as polygonal sand-filled mud cracks that indicate occasional exposure to desiccation. This layer, known as the Graafwater Formation , reaches a maximum thickness of 400 m, but on the Cape Peninsula it is only 60–70 m thick. No fossils have been found in the Graafwater rocks, but shallow-water animal tracks have been found. A particularly good example of these tracks can be viewed in
6300-423: The entire United Kingdom. It is characterised by various types of shrubs, thousands of herbaceous flowering plant species and some grasses. With the exception of the Silver tree, Leucadendron argenteum , which only grows on the granite and clay soils of the Cape Peninsula , open fynbos is generally treeless except in the wetter mountain ravines where patches of Afromontane forest persist. The arid interior
6405-428: The eroding African landscape to form the parallel ranges of mountains that run for 800 km along the southern and south-western Cape coastline today. In fact, they form the coastline, either sloping steeply directly into the sea, or are separated from it by a relatively narrow coastal plain. The Falkland Mountain range had probably eroded into relative insignificance by the mid-Jurassic Period, and started drifting to
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#17327930457346510-416: The escarpment is called the Drakensberg , which is geographically and geologically quite distinct from the Cape Fold Mountains , which originated much earlier and totally independently of the origin of the escarpment. The principal rivers of the province are the Berg and Olifants which drain into the Atlantic Ocean, and the Breede and Gourits which drain into the Indian Ocean. The vegetation of
6615-425: The expected changes. Thunderstorms are generally rare in the province (except in the Karoo ) with most precipitation being of a frontal or orographic nature. Extremes of heat and cold are common inland, but rare near the coast. Snow is a common winter occurrence on the Western Cape Mountains occasionally reaching down into the more inland valleys. Otherwise, frost is relatively rare in coastal areas and many of
6720-417: The flat plains of the "Lower Karoo" , except where they were protected by hard, erosion resistant dolerite or turbidite caps, to form isolated mountains that stand out from the plain. The mountains are not particularly ancient, despite their old-looking appearance. They are considered middle-aged in geologic terms. They were created when the Falkland Plateau collided with Southern Africa, when Pangaea ,
6825-417: The following interactive map, the district and metropolitan municipalities are labelled in capital letters and shaded in various different colours. Clicking on the district on the map loads the appropriate article: As of the third quarter of 2023, the Western Cape's total real GDP was R 656.27 billion, which equaled 14.2% of South Africa's total GDP, and real GDP per capita was R90,571. The Western Cape has
6930-420: The foyer of Geology Department of the University of Stellenbosch, where a slab of Graafwater rock from the Cederberg mountains has been built into the wall. The cutting for Chapman's Peak Drive, on the Cape Peninsula, is carved into the Graafwater Formation which overlays the Cape Granite basement rock below the road. The Graafwater Formation can also be clearly seen in the cutting on the second hairpin bend as
7035-440: The granite weathers is clearly displayed. With further subsidence of the rift valley floor, and possibly breaking through to the ocean, the sediments abruptly become more sandy, indicative of a sudden increase in the depth of the Agulhas Sea (see photograph on the right). A deposit, known as the Peninsula Formation (also often referred to as Table Mountain Sandstone ), consisting of thickly layered quartzitic sandstone , with
7140-411: The heavily cultivated valleys. The Hon Alan Winde MMP The Seventh Provincial Parliament Speaker Daylin Mitchell MMP Deputy Speaker Reagan Allen MMP Chief Whip of the Majority Party Gillon Bosman MMP Leader of the Opposition Khalid Sayed MMP Chief Whip of the Official Opposition Ayanda Bans MMP Municipal: The Cape has had
7245-444: The imposition of using Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in black schools, effective with students in Grade 7 (Standard 5) upwards. As early as March 1976, students began passive resistance against Afrikaans, fueling the outbreak of the Soweto Uprising on 16 June 1976. Consequently, the student protests spread to other parts of the country, and Cape Town became a pivotal site for Western Cape student revolt. Student leaders at
7350-427: The independence of the "Sovereign State of Good Hope". In the 2019 election , the DA retained their majority in the province, but with a reduction in support. It had won 24 seats with 55%. Helen Zille was term-limited and the DA premier candidate Alan Winde succeeded her. The ANC also lost support. It had received 12 seats with 28% support, its lowest showing since 1994. Veteran politician Peter Marais returned to
7455-433: The massive Himalaya-sized Falkland Mountains to the south of the Cape Fold Belt. Sediments eroded from these mountains provided the bulk of the 6 km thick Beaufort sediments in the Karoo Basin, but they also covered the Cape Fold Belt, thereby protecting them from erosion. At the end of the Karoo Period about 180 million years ago, the subcontinent was covered by a thick layer of Drakensberg lavas , an event that
7560-528: The mountain peaks in the different ranges varies from 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) to 2,300 metres (7,500 ft). The valleys between ranges are generally very fertile, as they contain the weathered loamy soils of the Bokkeveld mudstones (see the diagrams below). The far interior forms part of the Karoo . This region of the province is generally arid and hilly, with a prominent escarpment that runs close to
7665-592: The mountain tops, and only remain in the valleys. Here they form the fertile soils on which the vineyards and fruit orchards of the Western Cape flourish with the help of irrigation from the rivers that have their sources in the surrounding mountains. The Bokkeveld Group does not extend on to the Cape Peninsula or its isthmus (the Cape Flats). Here the Stellenbosch , Franschhoek , Paarl , Durbanville , Tulbagh and Constantia vineyards have been planted on
7770-444: The north and east, so that the oldest rocks are exposed in the south and west, while the youngest members of the Supergroup are exposed in the north, where the entire Cape Supergroup dives beneath the Karoo rocks . Drilling in the Karoo has established that Cape Supergroup rocks are found below the surface up to approximately 150 km north of their northernmost exposure on the surface. The Cape Supergroup extends eastwards beyond
7875-723: The north-eastern Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal , where the Cape Supergroup is represent only by the Natal Group and a trace of the Peninsula Formation (without the intervening Graafwater Formation). The Witteberg sediments were laid down in what remained of the Agulhas Sea – a shallow, much reduced expanse of water compared to its size during the Bokkeveld period. Immediately following the Witteberg period (about 330 million years ago) much of Gondwana (particularly what
7980-441: The population of the Western Cape as 7,433,020 people living in 2,264,032 households. As the province covers an area of 129,462 square kilometres (49,986 sq mi), the population density was 45.0 inhabitants per square kilometre (117/sq mi) and the household density 12.6 per square kilometre (33/sq mi). Cape Fold Belt The Cape Fold Belt is a fold and thrust belt of late Paleozoic age, which affected
8085-412: The protective layer over the Cape Fold Belt eroded away, exposing their mountain tops. The rivers breached these ridges, after possibly being dammed back for a short period, creating a narrow passage through the low rocky barrier. Continued erosion exposed more and more of these quartzitic mountain ranges, but the rivers, now confined to narrow, fast flowing gorges, continued breaking through each barrier as
8190-402: The provincial legislature to serve as a cabinet of ministers, overseeing the departments of the provincial government . These departments are Agriculture, Community Safety , Cultural Affairs and Sport, Economic Development and Tourism, Education , Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Health , Human Settlements, Local Government, Social Development, Transport and Public Works , and
8295-531: The provincial parliament as the sole representative of the Freedom Front Plus . Patricia de Lille formed another party, Good , and it achieved a seat. The DA continued to win a majority of the votes in the 2021 municipal elections , receiving 54% of the vote province-wide, with support in Cape Town at 58%. Since the late 2000s there has been growing support for Western Cape, or Greater Cape, independence from South Africa. Political parties such as
8400-508: The provincial parliament, while the ANC won 14 seats with 31% of the vote. The DA leader Helen Zille was elected Premier. In 2010 the Independent Democrats , which had won 3 seats with 5% of the vote, merged with the DA. In the 2014 election the DA won 59% of the votes and an absolute majority of 26 seats in the provincial parliament, while the ANC won 14 seats with 32% of the vote. In 2018 King Khoebaha Cornelius III Declared
8505-601: The region is also extremely diverse, with one of the world's seven floral kingdoms almost exclusively endemic to the province, namely the Cape Floral Kingdom , most of which is covered by Fynbos (from the Afrikaans meaning "Fine Bush" (Dutch: Fijnbos), though precisely how it came to be referred to as such, is uncertain.). These evergreen heathlands are extremely rich in species diversity, with at least as many plant species occurring on Table Mountain as in
8610-735: The sequence of sedimentary rock layers of the Cape Supergroup in the southwestern corner of South Africa . It was originally continuous with the Ventana Mountains near Bahía Blanca in Argentina , the Pensacola Mountains (East Antarctica), the Ellsworth Mountains (West Antarctica) and the Hunter-Bowen orogeny in eastern Australia. The rocks involved are generally sandstones and shales , with
8715-574: The shales ( Bokkeveld Group ) persisting in the valley floors while the erosion resistant sandstones (of the Peninsula Formation) form the parallel ranges, the Cape Fold Mountains, which reach a maximum height of 2325 m at Seweweekspoortpiek ('Seven Weeks Defile Peak' in Afrikaans). The Cape Fold Mountains form a series of parallel ranges that run along the south-western and southern coastlines of South Africa for 850 km from
8820-565: The south-easterly winds driving upwelling are weaker which results in warmer coastal waters than normal, while during La Niña the same winds are stronger and cause colder coastal waters. These effects on the winds are part of large scale influences on the tropical Atlantic and the South Atlantic High -pressure system, and changes to the pattern of westerly winds further south. There are other influences not known to be related to ENSO of similar importance. Some ENSO events do not lead to
8925-422: The south-west soon after Gondwana began to break up 150 million years ago, leaving the Cape Fold Belt to edge the southern portion of the newly formed African continent. Even though the mountains are very old by Andean and Alpine standards, they remain steep and rugged due to their quartzitic sandstone geology (see below) making them very resistant to weathering . The famous Table Mountain forms part of
9030-464: The southern Karoo . These rocks were laid down 370 – 330 million years ago in the silted up, and therefore shallow marine conditions of what remained of the Agulhas Sea. The group contains fewer fossils than the Bokkeveld Group, but the assemblage that is preserved includes primitive fish, an extinct species of shark, brachiopods, bivalves , and a meter long sea scorpion . There are also plant fossils and numerous animal tracks. The Witteberg Group
9135-489: The southern coastline of Africa. The Cape Fold Mountains possibly survived erosional obliteration, firstly because of the extremely hard rocks (the Peninsula Formation Sandstone) that form the backbone of the mountain chains, but also possibly because they had become buried under the Karoo deposits which originated in the Falkland Mountains. Thus traces of Karoo deposits can, for instance, be found in
9240-400: The subcontinent, about 180 million years ago, and again 20 million years ago, started an episode of continuous erosion that was to remove many kilometers of surface deposits from Southern Africa. Although the tops of the original Cape Fold Mountains were eroded away, they eroded much slower than the considerably softer Karoo deposits to the north. Thus the Cape Fold Belt "erupted" from
9345-406: The summer and winter rainfall areas. Winter rainfall areas tend to get higher rainfall than normal and summer rainfall areas tend to get less rain. The effect on the summer rainfall areas is stronger and has led to severe drought in strong El Niño events. Sea surface temperatures off the west and south coasts of South Africa are affected by ENSO via changes in surface wind strength. During El Niño
9450-472: The supercontinent formed during the Cambrian - Ordovician periods (from 510 to about 330–350 million years ago),. Their stature, with heights varying from 1000m to 2300m, is mostly due to the weather-resistant rocks of quartzitic sandstone of the Peninsula Group (see above). They occur in long parallel ranges each not much more than 10 km wide, separated by equally long valleys with
9555-535: The surrounding landscape eroded to lower and lower levels, particularly during the past 20 million years. These 150‑million-year-old rivers therefore cut the defile, starting by flowing over, and then through the gradually erupting Cape Fold Mountains, to form the spectacular "poorte" and "klowe" (plural of "poort" and "kloof", the Afrikaans for defile or chasm) that characterize these mountains today. The best known defiles are: Meiringspoort , Seweweekspoort ,
9660-513: The surrounding sediments have been eroded away (see, for instance, Oribi Gorge in KwaZulu-Natal ). The mountains, although only of moderate height, are majestic and dramatic. This is due in part to numerous geological factors; The ranges usually have few to no foothills and rise directly from valley floors. The bases of the mountains are usually at or near sea level. The mountains of the Cape Fold Belt are composed of rocks belonging to
9765-468: The third largest economy of South Africa's nine provinces, behind Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal . The province's unemployment rate was 20.2%, which is the lowest in South Africa and considerably below the national unemployment rate of 31.9%. As of 2018, the Western Cape's Human Development Index is the highest in South Africa at 0.741 compared to the South African average of 0.705. As of 2023,
9870-587: The time. The Upper Peninsula Formation, above the Pakhuis and Cederberg Formations, consists of much softer sandstone than the Lower Peninsula Formation, and is often referred to as the Nardouw Formation . In the Cederberg this formation has been eroded by the wind into a wide variety of "sculptures", caves, and other fascinating structures for which these mountains have become well-known. About 400 million years ago (in
9975-400: The weathered Cape Granite and Malmesbury shale soils, which form the basement rocks on which the Cape Supergroup rocks in this region rest. The Bokkeveld Group extends eastwards to Port Alfred (near Grahamstown ), approximately 120 km beyond the eastern extent of the Cape Fold Belt. The bulk of the fossils found in the Cape Supergroup occur in the Bokkeveld mudstones. They include
10080-709: The west to East London in the east, plus the KwaZulu-Natal coastline, became flooded, leading to a seaway across the southern and eastern parts of the country, called the Agulhas Sea. The sea floor consisted of the Klipheuwel Group in the west, the Natal Group in the east, and eroded pre-Cambrian rocks in between. The first sediments into the initially still shallow, possibly inland, sea were alternating layers of maroon-colored mudstones and buff-colored sandstones, each mostly between 10 and 30 cm thick. The mudstone units commonly display ripple marks from
10185-498: The yellow block labeled C on the Earth's geological timeline diagram on the right.) An 8-km-thick layer of sediment, known as the Cape Supergroup (see below), accumulated on the floor of this rift valley. Closure of the rift valley, starting 330 million years ago, resulted from the development of a subduction zone along the southern margin of Gondwana , and the consequent drift of the Falkland Plateau back towards Africa, during
10290-403: Was accompanied by upliftment or bulging of Southern Africa, ushering in an almost uninterrupted period, continuing to the present, of erosion removing many kilometers of surface rocks from the entire subcontinent. Rivers running off this bulging interior into the seas that were forming around South Africa as Gondwana was breaking up 150 million years ago, eventually encountered rocky ridges as
10395-557: Was created in 1994 from part of the former Cape Province . The two largest cities are Cape Town and George . The Western Cape is roughly L-shaped, extending north and east from the Cape of Good Hope , in the southwestern corner of South Africa. It stretches about 400 kilometres (250 mi) northwards along the Atlantic coast and about 500 kilometres (300 mi) eastwards along the South African south coast ( Southern Indian Ocean ). It
10500-424: Was divided into the Western Cape, Northern Cape , Eastern Cape and part of North West . In the 1994 election, the Western Cape was one of two provinces that did not elect an African National Congress (ANC) provincial government (the other being KwaZulu-Natal ). The National Party (NP) won 53% of the votes and 23 seats in the 42-seat provincial legislature, and Hernus Kriel , a former Minister of Law and Order,
10605-611: Was elected Premier . He resigned in 1998 and was replaced by Gerald Morkel . The 1999 election marked the beginning of a period of great turbulence in Western Cape politics. No party achieved an absolute majority in the provincial parliament, as the ANC won 18 seats while the New National Party (NNP), successor to the NP, won 17. The NNP went into coalition with the Democratic Party (DP), which won 5 seats, to form
10710-724: Was elected in 2024 ; 24 seats are held by the Democratic Alliance , 8 by the African National Congress , 3 by the Patriotic Alliance , 2 by the Economic Freedom Fighters , and 1 each by the African Christian Democratic Party , Al Jama-ah , Good , Freedom Front Plus , and National Coloured Congress . The provincial parliament is responsible for legislating within its responsibilities as set out by
10815-405: Was later gradually restricted, and eventually abolished, under various National Party and United Party governments. In 1930 white women were enfranchised , and in 1931 property qualifications for white voters were removed . In 1936 black voters were then removed from the common voters' rolls and allowed only to elect separate members in 1936, and subsequently denied all representation in
10920-421: Was replaced by Peter Marais. In 2002 Marais resigned as Premier due to a sexual harassment scandal, and was replaced by NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk . During the 2003 floor-crossing period four members of the provincial parliament crossed to the ANC, giving it an absolute majority of 22 seats in the 42-seat house. However, the ANC remained in coalition with the NNP and van Schalkwyk remained as Premier. In
11025-492: Was to become Africa and Antarctica, but also parts of South America and India) became covered in a kilometers thick layer of ice as the super-continent drifted over the South Pole. The diamictite deposits left by these glaciers form the first layer of the Karoo Supergroup , called the Dwyka Group . During the glaciation period the Falkland Plateau started to move northwards into what was to become southern Africa, closing
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