At end of the apartheid era in the early 1990s, there were municipal councils for the towns of Swellendam and Barrydale, and a local council for Infanta. These councils were elected by the white residents of the towns. Coloured residents elected management committees, which were subordinate to the white local authorities, in Railton (Swellendam) and Smitsville (Barrydale). The former mission station of Suurbraak was governed by a management board, and the remaining rural areas fell under the Overberg Regional Services Council.