The municipality covers a land area of 4,518 square kilometres (1,744 sq mi) in the Breede River Valley and the west end of the Little Karoo.

15,176) is situated on the northeastern side of the Langeberg at the entrance to the Cogmanskloof gorge, while Ashton (pop.

At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the Langeberg Municipality formed part of the Breërivier Regional Services Council (RSC).

The towns of Robertson, Montagu, Ashton, Bonnievale and McGregor were governed by municipal councils elected by their white residents.

Nkqubela and Zolani were governed by town councils established under the Black Local Authorities Act, 1982.

While the negotiations to end apartheid were taking place a process was established for local authorities to agree on voluntary mergers.

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

When District Management Areas were abolished in 2011, the boundary of the municipality was extended to include the sparsely populated region northeast of Montagu, which had formerly been part of a DMA.