It includes the towns of Clanwilliam, Citrusdal and Lamberts Bay, and the surrounding villages and farms.

The municipality covers a total area of 8,007 square kilometres (3,092 sq mi), stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Doring River in the east.

The four towns in the Cederberg area took part in this process, which resulted in the municipalities merging with their respective management committees to form new non-racial municipalities: Citrusdal in March 1992, Clanwilliam in April 1992, Lambert's Bay in June 1993, and Graafwater in January 1994.

In January 1995 the municipalities of Clanwilliam, Citrusdal, and Lambert's Bay were replaced by TLCs, and Graafwater followed in the following month.

In December 1994, the Elands Bay local council and management committee were merged into the Piketberg TLC (the rest of which lies outside the Cederberg area).

The transitional councils were initially made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when elections were held.

Transitional representative councils (TRCs) were also elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the District Council; the area that was to become Cederberg Municipality included the Clanwilliam TRC and parts of the Piketberg and Vanrhynsdorp TRCs.

In the election of 1 November 2021, the African National Congress (ANC) won a plurality of seats on the council.

A motion of no-confidence in CE mayor Ruben Richards, after he was accused of corruption, was later passed with the support of one DA councillor, the speaker William Farmer.