The municipality is named after Reverend W Richter, a Dutch missionary from the 20th century who opened a mission station in Kuboes.

The Rhenish Missionary Society established a mission station under the charge of Reverend Hein at Kuboes during the mid 19th century.

Throughout the 1960s through 1998, a Light Infantry Regiment of the SADF was garrisoned here along with 2 batteries of Self-Propelled Artillery[5] The municipality covers an area of 9,608 square kilometres (3,710 sq mi) in the north-western corner of South Africa where the Atlantic coast meets the Orange River border with Namibia.

It borders on the Nama Khoi Local Municipality to the south and east, Namibia's ǁKaras Region to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

The main transport route in the municipality is the R382 road which runs from Steinkopf (where it connects to the N7 highway) west to Port Nolloth, and then north along the coast to Alexander Bay.

The municipal council consists of eleven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation.

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