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List of municipalities in South Africa

Wikimedia list article

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ1840088 ↗
Source-derived summary

This is a list of municipalities of South Africa. The largest metropolitan areas are governed by metropolitan municipalities, while the rest of the country is divided into district municipalities, each of which consists of several local municipalities.

Since the boundary reform at the time of the municipal election of 3 August 2016 there are 8 metropolitan municipalities, 44 district municipalities and 205 local municipalities.

Metropolitan municipalities

District municipalities

For comparison purposes the metropolitan municipalities are also included in this list.

Local municipalities

For comparison purposes the metropolitan municipalities are also included in this list.

Former municipalities

These municipalities have been dissolved since the current system of local government was established in 2000.

By province

The lists linked below also include maps showing the locations of the municipalities.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “List of municipalities in South Africa” as wikimedia list article. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2016, 2000—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where List, municipalities and South can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as wikimedia list article. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1840088. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2016 and 2000.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “List of municipalities in South Africa”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow List of municipalities in South Africa primary sources, List of municipalities in South Africa archive and List research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “List of municipalities in South Africa”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “List of municipalities in South Africa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.