Cape Winelands

District municipality

Cape Winelands District Municipality

Official code DC2. In the Western Cape. 21,480 km².

Local municipalities

5

Breede Valley, Drakenstein, Langeberg, Stellenbosch and Witzenberg. On the 2026 boundaries, in force from 4 November 2026.

Electricity

5 of 5 municipalities sell electricity themselves

Eskom supplies the rest directly. Each municipality’s page has what 500 kWh costs there.

Fuel zone

3 zones: 2A, 4A and 5A

From the magisterial districts named like its towns: Ceres, Montagu, Paarl and 5 more. The zone sets what petrol costs.

Petrol 95 Down R0.01

R29.43 to R29.68 a litre

From 4 November 2026. It depends where you are: Paarl, Stellenbosch and 1 more, R29.43 (zone 2A); Tulbagh, R29.57 (zone 4A); Ceres, Montagu and 2 more, R29.68 (zone 5A). In zone 2A, 1c less than last month and R9.08 more than a year ago.

Toll, Huguenot plaza on the N1 Up R1.50

R54.50 for a car

Mainline plaza, class 1, tariffs for 2026/27, from 1 March 2026. These are the toll points our records place inside the district; they hold only tolls set by notice in the Government Gazette.

Minimum wage Same everywhere

R30.23 an hour

The national minimum, from 1 March 2026. Many jobs have their own, higher minimum.

Prime lending rate Same everywhere Up 0.25

10.75% a year

Since 25 September 2026, when the repo rate rose to 7.25%. Most home loans follow prime.

The rand Same everywhere

R16.96 to the US dollar

On 13 November 2026, the newest business day. Worked out from the European Central Bank’s reference rates.

Drinking water

0 of 24 drinking-water systems at high or critical risk

None is rated high or critical. Blue Drop risk ratings, 2024. Counted across the district and its municipalities.

Wastewater works

6 of 24 at high or critical risk

Pniel, Raithby, Stellenbosch and 3 more. Green Drop, 2024. Counted across the district and its municipalities.

Dams in the Western Cape Province

77.7% full

Weekly report of 9 November 2026. All 47 dams of the province in the report, weighted by size. Theewaterskloof Dam is 70.9% full. They are not necessarily the dams that supply Cape Winelands.

Weather, November so far

32.6 °C hottest day

1.5 mm of rain from 1 to 5 November 2026; a normal November has 31 mm. Hottest on 4 November 2026. Modelled estimates from a weather reanalysis, averaged over the whole place: not readings from a weather station, and not a forecast.

Land cover, 2021

43% grassland

Of the land ESA WorldCover maps here in 2021: grassland 43%, shrubland 35%, bare or sparse ground 10%, cropland 7.5%. The shares add up to 100%.

Built-up area, 2020

72.8 km² 0.3% of the place

Roofs and paved ground as the satellite sees them (GHSL), every five years. 24.2 km² in 1975. It says nothing about who lives there or how. The two built-up figures measure different things: land cover counts every 10 m square that is mostly built on, roads and gardens between the roofs included; built-up area counts only the roofs and paved ground themselves, so it is the smaller.

People, 2026 (modelled)

905,300 about 42 a km²

An estimate from satellite-based models, not the census. Two models differ by about 12%.

Greenness, October 2026 Above normal

0.31 on the greenness scale

How green the whole place looks from space; a normal October is 0.29, so above normal. The scale runs from about 0 (bare ground) to about 0.9 (thick green growth). The satellite saw 98% of the area.

Drought, October 2026

No drought score +0.33 (0 is normal)

From rain over the last 3 and 12 months, evaporation and how green the land is, against the usual for the time of year: 0 is normal, −1 is dry, −2 is very dry. Our estimate, not an official drought declaration.

Fire, the twelve months to October 2026

4,750 fire detections

Fires spotted from space by NASA’s fire-spotting satellites, counted where they fall in the place; 51,765 ha burnt in 7 of those months (the rest not out yet). The most since 2012: 2017, 5,558. Seen from space, not fires reported on the ground.

Surface water, 2025

143 km² on average

Open water seen from space over the year: each spot counts for the share of clear looks it was wet; 112 km² was water nearly all year, 447 km² at some point. 69% of the place was seen clearly. The most since 1984: 1984, 170 km². Seen from space, not a survey; a missing year is left out, not counted as dry.

Nitrogen dioxide in the air, 2025

6.5 µg/m³, the year’s mean (modelled)

Near the ground, averaged over the whole place by a European air-quality model, not a reading at any address. WHO’s yearly guideline is 10 µg/m³. Winters 8.9 µg/m³, summers 3.7 µg/m³ over the last five years.

How hot the ground got, summer 2025 to 26

42.1 °C on clear mornings

How hot the ground itself gets (roofs, roads, soil, leaves), seen from space at about 10 in the morning, averaged over the district. It is not the air temperature; on a sunny day the ground is often far hotter.

Night light seen from space, 2025

0.43 nW/cm²/sr on average, 6.5% of the land lit

NASA Black Marble at about 1:30 in the morning, averaged over the district; 54% brighter than 2012. Light, nothing more: it can't tell grid from solar, or who pays.